Pedro Martí is 38. This Spanish author built his career slowly but steadily. He started by self-publishing, managed to get a small publisher interested, and finally attracted the attention of the gigantic Destino. His police procedural La mala hija came out in April of 2025 and has already undergone 15 printings.
It’s a very solid mystery novel. It is also openly and insistently pro-life. I don’t want to offer any spoilers but the novel describes in a very powerful way the strength and the dignity of two young women, pressured by others to abort in the most desperate circumstances but staying strong and defending their motherhood.
La mala hija makes the case that every child deserves to be born. A disabled child, a child rejected by his father before birth, a child of a teenage mother, a child of incest, a child of rape. It’s very intelligently done because you don’t figure out what the author is doing until you are deep into the novel and eager to find out the solution to the mystery.
I am fascinated by the success of La mala hija because it demonstrates an important change in mood among the readership. Yes, the author is male. But who do you think bought those 15 printings? It’s the kind of books that are read almost exclusively by women. Spain has exceptionally low fertility rates, and anything that moves the needle towards more babies being born is great.
La mala hija will probably be translated into English. I’ll let everybody know when that happens. There are already translations into Italian, Polish, and French. If you like the police procedural genre, it’s an excellent read.
