Please recommend! -- Spanish novelists for learners

Can anyone out there recommend Spanish-language novelists for learners (intermediate level)? I am looking for Spanish or Latin American authors who write in a straightforward style (i.e., not magical realism), preferably contemporary, and preferably with a lot of dialogue. (Plays, screenplays, or short stories are also okay.)

I can read Harry Potter and the like easily, but I prefer original material over translations. The best I've read so far is Rosaura a las diez by Marco Denevi, but I'm not familiar with his other work.

Thanks!

Maybe Arturo Perez Reverte? I don't know if their novels are exactly suitable for learners. I think that if you want to read a novel you'd better have a quite good command of Spanish, excluding those ones adapted for intermediate learners. Reverte's novels have lots of dialogues and the style is not obstruse.

Memoria de mis Putas Tristes by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

"Cuentos" by Mario Benedetti.
Simply writtten short stories by a Uruguayan Master.

What about Isabel Allende?

She is easy to understand, but very bad writer.

Franco nao concordo contigo, muitas pessoas acham que a Isabel é uma optima escritora

Lo que dices es verdad, pero has olvidado que la mayor parte de la gente es maleducada, y cree erróneamente que lo que ella escribe tiene algo de sentido y destreza. No es un escritora mala, admito esto, pero no merece la popularidad que mantiene.

maleducada? de veras? Tal vez quisieras decir inculta??

Tal vez se haya confundido porque en inglés es bad educated mientras que en español mal educado significa unpolite, no inculto. Hay que tener cuidado con los false-friends.

No me han entendido... por alguna razón las personas que se comportan mal leen mucho a Allende, no sé por qué, es una enigma. ¡Allende les ha manipulado el mente y está convirtiéndolas en maleducadas!

Franco and Guest:

Before you two continue your Allende argument (and I appreciate all the Spanish reading practice!), could you suggest any other authors, as per my original thread?

enigma es masculino en Espanol y mente feminino, asì que se dice el enigma y la mente. Por lo visto, tienes bastantes problemas con los generos de los substantivos en espanol, te aconsejo que leas las novelas de Allende :-)

Sí, pero español es con ñ, no con n.

Juanes Si yo tuviese un teclado espanol podria escribirlo correctamente :-)