The Prints of Evil (Las huellas del mal)

Argentina, 1892. Juan Vucetich arrives in a remote coastal town to solve the brutal murder of two children. As he confronts corrupt policemen, hidden interests, and a community ruled by fear, he stakes his career on a revolutionary idea: that fingerprints can reveal the truth.

In 1892, as Argentina enjoys an era of prosperity and faith in progress, a horrific crime shakes the small port town of Quequén. Two children are found murdered in their home, and their mother, the sole witness to the massacre, is left so traumatized that she is unable to explain what happened. Local authorities believe they have quickly identified the culprit and are eager to close the case, but the government sends two investigators from La Plata with a very different mission: to prove that a new scientific technique can uncover the truth where testimony, confessions, and intuition fail.

Leading the investigation is Juan Vucetich, a Croatian immigrant and the creator of a revolutionary system based on fingerprint identification. Accompanying him is Marcos Diamant, an eccentric assistant who interprets human behavior through the lens of Greek tragedy. From the outset, both men clash with the local police commissioner, who views their presence as unwelcome interference and places greater trust in traditional methods than in scientific innovation. As they reconstruct the events, they discover that the evidence contradicts the official version of the crime and that the initial investigation was shaped more by prejudice and political pressure than by facts.

For Vucetich, the case becomes the decisive opportunity to put his method to the test. Convinced that every criminal leaves behind an involuntary trace of their presence, he transforms the crime scene into a laboratory in which every clue may become a key piece of the truth. Yet the further the investigation progresses, the greater the resistance becomes. In addition to opposition from local authorities, Vucetich faces criticism from those who believe fingerprint identification threatens individual freedom. Among his most vocal opponents are anarchist groups, increasingly mobilized against the project he champions.

The situation grows even more complicated when the discovery attracts the attention of major European powers. Aware of the enormous potential of the new technique, foreign agents attempt either to appropriate it for themselves or to prevent Argentina from gaining a scientific advantage of international significance. Soon, pursuits, political maneuvering, and espionage operations become intertwined with the hunt for the murderer.

While Diamant seeks to decipher the hidden motives behind the crime and Vucetich follows the silent trail left by physical evidence, both men move closer to an uncomfortable truth that dismantles the police’s premature conclusions. In the end, a fingerprint found at the crime scene identifies the real killer beyond any doubt and solves the case.

The resolution of the double murder not only brings justice to the victims, but also provides the first definitive proof of the validity of fingerprint identification, marking the birth of a new era in criminal investigation, one in which science begins to prevail over suspicion, intuition, and the errors of traditional justice.

RELEVANT INFORMATION: Federico Andahazi is an Argentine writer and psychologist whose works have been translated into more than forty languages, establishing him as one of Latin America’s most internationally recognized authors. Throughout his career, he has received numerous distinctions, including the Planeta Prize Argentina, the Second Buenos Aires Young Art Biennial Short Story Award, the Desde la Gente Annual Literary Competition Award, and the CAMED Award. His books have sold millions of copies worldwide and earned critical acclaim across the globe.

The Prints of Evil combines historical thriller and investigative fiction to reconstruct the birth of fingerprint identification through a criminal case inspired by real events. With a fast-paced narrative, a richly realized historical setting, and a structure driven by the progress of the investigation, the novel sustains suspense without losing sight of the social and political context of the period.

Its audiovisual potential is particularly strong. The combination of shocking crimes, charismatic investigators, political conspiracies, international espionage, and historical reconstruction provides an outstanding foundation for a suspenseful limited series or feature film.

AUDIOVISUAL POTENTIAL: TV Series, Limited Series, Feature Film, TV Movie.

AVAILABLE LANGUAGES: Spanish.