Spanish Novels: Crimen en Barcelona

Spanish Novels for Intermediates - B1 #13

by Paco Ardit

Looking for Spanish Novels?I know how tough it is to find good readings to learn a new language.You don't usually have a large vocabulary or are able to read long and complex sentences.You'd like to go right to the fun stuff, but maybe it's too hard for you now.A typical Spanish reader isn't interesting or just plain boring.But this book is not like that.Learning with Spanish Novels is easy and straightforward. Forget about difficult long texts with English-translations. This book for Spanish learners is not like that. It will take you to the next level in less time. That means less effort and struggling towards your way to fluency in Spanish. Improving your Spanish can be lots of fun. A Spanish Book for Intermediates (B1) Both Fun & EasyCrimen en Barcelona is the book number 13 of the Spanish Novels Series. This Intermediate Spanish Reader is packed with useful expressions you need in everyday greetings, asking questions, talking to friends, etc. Anyone who has an intermediate command of the Spanish language can take advantage of this book. You need to know conditionals, gerund, pluperfect and simple past tenses. Besides, in this book you will find longer and more complex sentences. Felipe Amador is the CEO of Alaires Airlines and the richest man in Barcelona. One night he's found dead in his office. Nobody knows how he died, but many think it could have been a crime. Two private detectives are hired by his son to find out everything about the case.This Spanish Book for Intermediates will show you the most used grammar structures in different situations. As the difficulty level is just right you will learn and enjoy it at the same time. This Intermediate Spanish book will definitely help you work your way up toward more advanced readings.Why Spanish NovelsShort sentencesShort chaptersEasy vocabularySimple grammarEveryday dialoguesAn Intermediate (B1) Spanish Reader in SIMPLE Spanish.From the First martes 1 de febrero nadie fue a trabajar a la aerolínea. A las 6.10am los empleados de Alaires Airlines recibieron la noticia en sus “Lamentamos comunicarles que Felipe Amador ha fallecido. El día de hoy la compañía permanecerá cerrada por duelo”La gente se sorprendió con la noticia. La mayoría de los empleados quería mucho a Felipe. Ahora todos están muy apenados.Aparentemente, el CEO de la compañía apareció muerto en su propia oficina. Lo encontraron sin vida el lunes a las 11.40pm. Las empleadas de limpieza golpearon la puerta de su oficina durante media hora. Como no tuvieron respuesta llamaron a los empleados de seguridad. Ellos derribaron la puerta y entraron a la oficina. Lo vieron sentado en el sillón principal, con la cabeza sobre el escritorio. Desde la puerta le “Sr. Amador, ¿se encuentra bien?”. Como no respondía se acercaron un poco más al escritorio. Cuando llegaron al sillón se dieron cuenta. Felipe no estaba respirando. Estaba muerto.Learn Vocabulary With a Spanish Reader for IntermediatesCrimen en Barcelona includes a short guide to download and install a FREE Spanish-English Dictionary.

Genres: Spanish Literature, Fiction

141 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 15, 2016

About the author

Paco Ardit is the author of the Spanish Novels Series. He was born in Madrid, Spain, in 1976. Since the early 1980’s he lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He loves learning and teaching languages, reading books, and writing fiction. His mission is to create the best materials for language learners who don't want to settle for easy and boring.

Combining his experience in learning, languages and fiction writing he comes up with fun and engaging graded readers in multiple genres: Mystery, Detective Stories, Romance, Comedy, Drama, and more.

Reviews

[Ian Jones]

This is the first of Paco Ardit’s Spanish novels that I’ve read. I’ve tackled several similar novels by a certain other Spanish writer and this one compares favourably. It’s a good story told in sixty bite-size chapters. A man is found dead in his office. Was it murder or death by natural causes? The vocabulary and grammar are at the B1 bottom of intermediate stage, which is fine for me. I managed to get the gist of most chapters at the first reading, though there were some words and phrases that made me grab a dictionary. Minor gripe: unlike the other writer, Paco Ardit does not provide a glossary of difficult words and phrases at the end of each chapter. The back cover warns you that to follow the story without too much help from a grammar book you need to know conditionals, gerunds, pluperfect and simple past.
Paco Ardit has written about 20 novels from A1 to C2 stages. On the strength of this one, I’m not tempted to go backwards and read any of the A1 and A2 novels, but I will definitely read those in the B1 and B2 stage and then move on to C1 and C2. I would recommend this novel to anyone who is trying to improve their intermediate-level Spanish and wants to be entertained while doing so.

[Mr Jeremy C Allan-Smith]

Stories work!

After trying a million ways of learning and consolidating my threadbare grasp of Spanish, finally I think I've cracked it! Paco Ardit's meticulous attention to each word choice helps enormously. He introduces the reader to an irregular past tense or new word and then repeats it or changes the ending slightly in a different narrative context, which gives you time to absorb and understand its usage. But take your time; look at those conjugation and accents and, above all, the prepositions. Wondering what the heck that 'a' or 'con' or 'por' is doing there is part of the learning journey, so linger on the intricacy and enjoy!

[Petra]

Enojada porque esto me demostró que todavía no tengo el nivel B1 en español…
(Za Anju)

[Kate]

Most books written for Spanish learners are either boring or ridiculous, but this one was really a fun mystery!

[reece]

Super easy to read. There weren't any words or phrases that I had to look up, could pick up meaning by context. Plot was kinda cool but eventually got boring but eh input is input. It's another book towards my goal

[Jack Caine]

Me encantó el libro. Pienso que era una buena manera de practicar su español y además la lenguaje dentro del libro no era tan difícil. Por eso solo tardé unos cincos días en leerlo. Ya tengo uno de la serie B2 y no puedo esperar hasta que pueda empezarlo.

The novel was tense, nervewracking and yet romantic and provoking. Really easy to follow and the lack of English translation allowed me to improve my Spanish and learn more vocabulary.

I would 100% recommend this book and/or this series and author to anybody who is studying Spanish.

Espero que les guste el libro.

[A]

My first book in Spanish and I really liked it. Even though my level is not B1 I understood most of it and thanks to that I was actually into the story. The story itself was pretty simple and I was hoping there would be a different outcome because it felt a little too superficial. But other than that, perfect for los estudiantes :))

[Robert Palmer]

I enjoyed this book. At first I was frustrated by not having a glossary to explain the phrases and expressions where the individual words do not provide meaning. However the Goggle Translate app on the phone works wonders - just use the camera and point it at the page and get the translation.

[Caitlin]

Decent story! No chapter summaries or glossaries which was fine for me, but might be harder if you are reading the book as a challenge.

I found this book to be easy to read which is great evidence of my progress! I might try a B2 next.

[Scott Wozniak]

Good for practice, not a great story

The story is really basic, with a lot of data dumping in the beginning. But it was good practice using my Spanish, which was the point. All the language was at the intermediate level, which isn’t naturally found in a regular novel.

[Gillian Burles]

As a mystery, it’s not terrific but it is a perfect level for my Spanish at this point. I will look for other books by this author

[Aly]

Engaging and Easy to follow

This book is great for beginners looking to challenge themself with something more engaging than beginner books. It's a great stepping stone from A2.

[James Forster]

He terminado este libro y lo disfruté mucho.

Uno de los mejores de Paco

[MS C Murray]

Really enjoyed this book. Story was engaging ( some Spanish learners books are not). It expanded my vocabulary and I wanted to not put the book down. I think the short chapters are good

[Barb]

This book was perfect for my Spanish level. It is rated B1 and I agree with that rating.

[Mariah Ramirez]

A murder mystery book… One of the more exciting Spanish readers.

[Audrey]

It does what it says on the tin. The story is designed to assist people on their language journey.

[Preston Hart]

Excellent learning book for intermediate students👌🏾👌🏾

[Matt F]

As with other books by Paco Ardit - it’s a great learning resource, but the story was boring.

[john erickson]

Great

The book was interesting and at my level. I enjoyed it and learned some new vocab. Highly recommend. Thank you.

[Brittany]

Read to preview for Spanish class - not going to include this one in my library. It’s more geared for adult learners. Also, as a fan of mystery novels, I found the mystery to be pretty predictable.

[Mariam Badr]

Fue más divertido de lo que esperaba

[Charlotte Beyst]

Wat voorspelbaar, maar goed, het is prima om je Spaans te leren.

[Ann]

Good storywriter for improving my Spanish

[Bill]

Good book for intermediate students of Spanish.

[Linda Pulickal]

Good intermediate read

new phrases & slangs combined with a good narration definitely helps in leveling up intermediate Spanish.