16th century ruler King Philip II of Spain maneuvers within a court of deceit and betrayal

Leo Minués, who used to be a classmate of Carvalho, is found dead the same day he had to testify in a case of corruption and someone asks Carvalho to investigate it. He accepts the case and finds out that Leo was collecting illegal funds for his political party. From that moment, a number of signs appear. This allows Carvalho to discover that Mínguez had made a list of the people involved in the case of corruption. Some videotapes appear, which makes things even more complicated, and Carvalho finds himself walking on shifting land, surrounded by celebrities in the highest spheres. Why did Mínguez die? Who has got the list?

Mister Joaquim Pelletier and his wife request the services of the private detective Pepe Carvalho to find the murderer of their only son, Mariano. As the investigations progress, Pepe finds out that Mariano was not such a model son as his father thought. He had a double life: a banker at daytime, a thug at night; he was cooperating with Jesús Arquimedes, the boss of the underworld, by doing illegal works for him. But Mariano had decided to betray Arquímedes, embezzling $500 000 of the money he was laundering in Bank Pelletier, to start a new life in the USA. Arquímedes puts pressure on Carvalho to find his money. Surprisingly enough for the detective, the guilty one is not Arquímedes, but the father of Mariano. Mister Jaoquim had a passionate relationship with his son since childhood, he wanted to mold his son as he had always dreamed, and never admitted that Mariano was someone different and a rebel who wanted to run away from Barcelona for ever.

To revive its sagging fortunes, Barcelona FC has bought the services of Jack Mortimer, European Footballer of the Year. No sooner has Mortimer taken possession of his company Porsche than death threats start arriving. Are they a hoax, the work of a loner or are they connected to the awesome real estate speculation that is tearing Barcelona apart? While Catalan pimps and racketeers are being hustled off the streets by crime syndicates from the Middle East, Pepe Carvalho is thinking of retirement, but the need to save the soul of his beloved Barcelona forces him to take on a case that can only end in disaster.

Carvalho is investigating the murder of a man by a prostitute, according to the job the man's wife has given him. But he cannot imagine that the issue goes far beyond and is at a much bigger scale than anyone may think. There is a large multinational behind all the deaths that happen while the investigation is taking place, and economic interests will put Carvalho and his friends in danger.

Carvalho is hired to investigate the alleged threats to the daughter of the civil governor of Barcelona. Step by step, Carvalho realizes that there is something hidden in core of the mystery that goes back to something that happened in the past and that is related to the governor himself.

Carvalho becomes involved in the search for a missing young dancer, daughter of a famous artist. The search for the dancer's last steps in Barcelona leads him to Italy, where she is supposed to have taken a cruise on the Mediterranean.

Carvalho is investigating the murder of a prison officer. The police suspect a young delinquent who had threatened to kill the officer. But Carvalho and Biscuter are on the trail of a friend and ex-cell partner of the defendant called "el Navajas" ("the penknife"). He is a pusher in the discotheque Up & Down. Things get worse when "el Navajas" turns out to be the main suspect of the murder in cold blood of a boy from a good family in the discotheque. Carvalho must find the pusher before the police in order to avoid that his client is sentenced to life imprisonment.

Long ago, the architect Stuart Pedrell told his family that he was going to the South Seas. However, his daughter Yes has recently received a postcard from her father that comes from a far less exotic place: L'Hospitalet. Carvalho goes to Bellvitge in order to find Yes' father and to discover why he lied to his family. Pedrell never went indeed to the South Seas. He took refuge in Bellvitge where he was murdered.

When the corpse of Encarna Abellan appears destroyed on a beach in Barcelona, the detective Pepe Carvalho begins the research and travels to A Coruña. She was married to a wealthy owner belonging to a well-known A Coruña family and had traveled to Barcelona to undergo a fertility treatment, but had previously had relations with Ginés Larios, a merchant navy officer and ex-boyfriend, whom he had left to marry the rich heir The suicide of the latter seems to be the case by closed, however Carvalho decides to try to clarify everything.