Lluís Arquer

Uncategorized

Created by Jaume Fuster
(1945-98)

LLUÍS ARQUER was a well-known Spanish private eye created by Catalan writer and director Jaume Fuster; caught up in the the shifting social and political turmoil of Barcelona during Spain’s turbulent transition from Franco’s authoritarian dictatorship to democracy in the nineteen seventies and eighties. He was the author’s homage to Ross Macdonald‘s Lew Archer. (“Arquer” is Catalan for “Archer,” so that wasn’t hard to figure out).

Born in Barcelona, the son of a municipal civil servant, Lluís studied the law for three years, and became involved in the university’s Democratic Union, but gave it all up when his father passed away.

For the next few years, he bounced around. A friend landed him a job at a credit company, where he performed background checks, and he later joined the military, where he served in Africa.

Returning home, he went to work for defense attorney, once again doing background checks, as well as tracking down witnesses and the like, honing his skills as an investigator — and a growing sense of cynicism. Hey, it was the early seventies, and Spain was still under the Franco’s thumb.

Intent on striking out on his own, Arquer’s attempts to get his own investigator license fizzled, due to his involvement participation in the union during his university days, nor was he particularly keen on swearing allegiance to the Franco government. But that was in 1975 — the same year Franco died. And surprise! surprise! in 1976, Arquer finally got his. license.

Since then he has worked out of an office on Canuda Street in Barcelona, with a secretary and everything. He specialized in divorces, embezzlement and commercial reports, but will take on a case if it interests him. His investigations routinely bring him into contact with all sorts of people, from dog racers and fashion designers to Catalan separatists. And, of course, assorted murderers.

He carries a gun, but he’s no tough guy. Like Archer, he lives a mostly quiet life, and doesn’t seem to have much of a social life. He smokes a pipe, doesn’t drink much, and likes to listen to classical music, while brooding about the state of the world.

Arquer mostly appeared in short mini-mysteries, originally published in the magazine El Món and later compiled into books like Les claus de vidre (1984) and Vida de gos (1984). The solution of the crime is usually revealed in the last paragraph, offering a twist that prompts a careful re-reading of the story — by all accounts, Fuster loved to play with people’s heads.

In a later novel, 1988’s Sota el signe de Sagitari, Lluís finds himself searching for a politician’s missing son‚ the hunt takes him to Mallorca, Naples, New York’s Greenwich Village, and the Basque region, where he finds police corruption, political scandals, drug trafficking, and the various other criminal endeavors.

Lluís makes a cameo appearance, along with another popular Spanish gumshoe, Vasquez-Montalban‘s Pepe Carvalho, in Catalan author Maria-Antonia Oliver‘s Study in Lilac, featuring her P.I., Lònia Guiu. And why not? In real life, Jaume and Maria-Antònia lived together.

The Arquer stories have never been translated into English, as far as I can tell, although a subsequent television adaptation in Catalonia, with Arquer played by Jaume Comas may yet show up somewhere subtitled or even dubbed.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

A writer for television, film, newspapers and magazines, as well as the author of short stories and novels, Jaume Fuster was born in the El Raval district of Barcelona in 1945, and served in the military in Mallorca, where he met Maria-Antonia Oliver. They married in 1969. He co-founded the Associació d’Escriptors en Llengua Catalana, of which he would be president from 1996 until his death in 1998, at the age of 52.

SHORT STORIES

  • “Una cerradura oxidada / Un pany rovellat”
  • “Caballo perdedor / Farina de fer nones”
  • “Marieta de Bolvir / La Marieta de Bolvir”
  • “La ruta de los almogávares / La ruta dels almogàvers”
  • “No disparen contra el burgués / No dispareu contra el burgès”
  • “¿Alguien tiene una cerilla? / Algú té un llumí?”
  • “Seguro de vida / Assegurança de vida”
  • “Cornudo y apaleado / Cornut i pagar el beure”
  • “Preséntese en el mostrador de información / Presenti’s al mostrador d’informació”
  • “Parientes y trastos viejos, pocos y lejos / Març marçot, mata la vella i la jove si pot”
  • “Libro cedido, libro perdido / De llibres i paraigües no se’n tornen gaires”
  • “Concerto grosso / Músic pagat fa mal so”
  • Fiat lux / Fiat lux”
  • “El rapto de las Sabinas / El rapte de les Sabines”
  • “La fiesta / La festa”
  • “La ventana cerrada / La finestra tancada”
  • “El caserón / Mas Obac”
  • “Los lunáticos / La lluna en un cove”

COLLECTIONS

  • Les claus de vidre: Disset aventures de Lluis Arquer (1984)
    “Les claus de vidre” translates as “The Glass Key,”
  • Vida de gos i altres claus de vidre (1989)
  • Vida de perros y otras llaves de cristal (1999)

NOVELS

  • Sota el signe de Sagitari (1988; aka “Under the Sign of Sagitaurus”)
  • Ana y el detective (1993)
    Lluís Arquer appears as a secondary character.

TELEVISION

  • LES CLAUS DE VIDRE: LLUÍS ARQUER
    (1986-2007, TV3)
    10 episodes; two later released on DVD
    Based on characters created by Jaume Fuster
    Writers: Jaume Fuster Ricard Reguant, Antoni Verdaguer
    Directors: Jaume Fuster Ricard Reguant, Antoni Verdaguer
    Starring Jaume Comas as LLUÍS ARQUER
    Also starring Anna Briansó, Patrícia Soley-Bertran, Pepita Llunell, Carme Callol

    • “El testament de Lluís Companys” (July 3, 1986)
    • “Una nit d’hivern” (July 10, 1986)
    • “Filar prim” (July 17, 1986)
    • “El rock a la faixa” (Jul 24, 1986)
    • “Amunt els pobres de la terra” (July 31, 1986)
    • “L’avi Rodergues” (August 7, 1986)
    • “Vida de gos” (August 14, 1986)
    • “Històries del Paral·lel” (August 21, 1986)
    • “Miró robat” (August 28, 1986)
    • “Per què has fugit, Àngela?” (September 4, 1986)
    • “Un viatge per mar” (May 16, 2007)
    • “El rapte del crack” (May 16, 2007)

FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS

THE DICK OF THE DAY

  • October 11, 2026
    THE BOTTOM LINE: How’s your Catalan? This quiet, brooding Barcelona shamus, the author’s homage to Ross Macdonald’s Lew Archer, is caught up in the shifting social and political turmoil of Spain’s turbulent transition from Franco’s dictatorship to democracy in the nineteen seventies and eighties, in a series of well-regarded mini-mysteries and novels.
Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith. Any corrections would be appreciated (My Catalan is even worse than my Spanish)

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