Jaume Clotet unearths the sword of Jaume I

BarcelonaWhen he started writing The Brotherhood of the Fallen Angel (Column, Josep Pla Prize 2024), journalist Jaume Clotet (Barcelona, ​​1974) hadn't planned on writing a trilogy. But the success of that novel led him to consider continuing the adventures of the young woman from the squad, Berta Bosch, and the monk of Montserrat, Bernat Balaguer, with a second book. The apostle's skull (Column / Destiny, 2025) and with a third one that has just arrived in bookstores, The King's Sword (Column / Destiny, 2026). Clotet closes the saga with a book that cannot be read independently of the previous ones, because it answers many questions that he has been raising throughout the novels.The Brotherhood of the Fallen Angel It begins with Satan imprisoned in Rome. Now I've had to imagine how, who, when, and why the devil was imprisoned," the writer explains.

The central element of this third book is a sword of virtue attributed to James I, currently housed in the Musée de l'Armée in Paris. "A few years ago, it came to Catalonia via the MNAC (National Art Museum of Catalonia). "From then on, I had it in my head," explains Clotet, who adds that "swords of virtue were attributed with magical powers, and it was taken for granted that whoever possessed one would always win the battle, to the point that the rules of duels between knights stipulated that they could not be used." In the novel, the writer begins a new investigation by the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) led by the protagonist, Agent Berta Bosch. He also references events such as James I's desire to launch a crusade in the Holy Land. "Perhaps it was the best, because that was a far-fetched feat that was clearly doomed to fail," the writer points out. Those who did arrive—and are part of the novel—are the king's children and the knight Galceran de Pinós, who, through this crusade, will confront Satan.

With this trilogy, Clotet has cultivated the genre of thriller A historical figure with the mission of rooting it in Catalonia. "Anything that contributes to creating community and identity appeals to me. There aren't many Catalans who write about things from our homeland, but readers here consume all genres. If they can't find them in Catalan, written locally, they'll read them in another language," says Clotet, who affirms that "the success of these books is due to that fact." This intention is also reflected in the novel's settings, through which the author seeks to reveal to the reader places in Catalonia that are unfamiliar to them. In the case of the new book, places like the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Tibidabo appear, but also other more well-known landscapes such as Montserrat, Paris, and Rome.