Antonio Mercero Santos (Madrid, 1969) is the author of novels La cuarta muerte (Espasa,2012), La vida desatenta (De Bolsillo,2014), El final del hombre (Alfaguara, 2017), the last two with Sofía Luna, a transsexual police officer, and of Pleamar (Alfaguara,2021), a detective story focused on social media. He has also published a graphic novel El violeta (Drakul, 2018) about the repression of homosexuals during the Franco regime.
He is one of the three writers forming part of the pseudonymous Carmen Mola (together with Jorge Díaz and Agustín Martínez), winner of the Planeta Award 2021 and author of La novia gitana, La red purpura, and La nena, the successful saga of inspector Elena Blanco.
A journalist by education, he worked with Manu Leguineche in the LID and FAX PRESS news agencies and contributed to La Gaceta de los Negocios in New York. For over twenty five years he has been scriptwriting television series such as Hache (Netflix), Tramuntana and Monteperdido (TVE), Seis hermanas (TVE) and creator of Hospital Central (Telecinco) and Farmacia de guardia (Antena 3 TV). In the spotlight now is La novia gitana, an adaptation of the novel of Carmen Mola, of which he is the coordinator of scripts.
In the field of screenwriting, together with Gracia Querejeta he wrote scripts for Quince años y un día (Biznaga Award for the best script at the Málaga Film Festival), Felices 140 (best script at the Toulouse Film Festival) and Invisibles. He wrote the script for De perdidos al río, directed by Joaquín Mazón and for two documentary films La roja, de Brasil a Brasil and Tanto monta about King Ferdinand The Catholic, both emitted on TVE/Spanish Television. Apart from that, he has collaborated in the screenwriting of La vergűenza of David Planell and has written short films Cordelias and Como yo te amo, both of them nominated for Goya.