Inspector Álex Cortés Saga

The Devil’s Tailor | The Scent Of Death | Killer On Board | The Devil Never Sleeps | When Barcelona Lost Its Sanity | The Vampire Of Barcelona | The Last Cryptogram | A Body In Flames | The Secret Of The Swamp | I Live Because I Kill | The King Is Dead, Long Live The King | Pool For The Dead

In a dark and corrupt Barcelona, Inspector Álex Cortés faces brutal serial killers and his greatest enemy, the enigmatic Néstor Luna, in a saga of thrillers where every crime is a riddle and every investigation drags him closer to his own personal and moral abyss.

A tormented, brilliant, and intuitive inspector with a deep sense of justice and a strong bond with the city of Barcelona, Álex Cortés stars in a saga of thrillers that blend mystery, social criticism, and psychological tension. His investigations take him from the city’s darkest alleys to its most luxurious buildings, confronting not only ingenious killers and twisted criminal plots but also his own inner demons.

In The Devil’s Tailor, Inspector Álex Cortés takes his first steps as an investigator and faces the case that will define him forever. A series of savage murders leaves every body mutilated in the same way, with a mysterious mark carved into the skin. Cortés confronts both the brutality of the crimes and the media pressure surrounding a killer who plays with him — a hangman driven by a thirst for justice. The story lays the foundations of his character: an intuitive, obsessive investigator whose instincts never fail him.

In The Scent of Death, a van full of corpses parked in front of a police station marks the beginning of a macabre game in Barcelona. Inspector Álex Cortés must decode mysterious packages that contain poisoned clues from a serial killer obsessed with notoriety. In a race against time, Álex faces traps, false leads, and a city that refuses to speak.

In Killer on Board, Álex Cortés investigates a case in which three threads intertwine: a charred corpse on a cruise ship, a clandestine clinic, and the return of a serial killer presumed dead. Haunted by ghosts from his past and new cryptograms, Álex teams up with Karla and a chef who becomes an unexpected ally.

In The Devil Never Sleeps, Barcelona trembles once again as dismembered bodies bearing cryptic codes begin to appear. Inspector Álex Cortés faces his nemesis Néstor Luna, the dreaded “Cryptogram Killer,” who has escaped and left behind a new trail of horror. To save the next victim, Álex must decipher messages hidden in the corpses, aided by Karla and her sister, a criminologist.

In When Barcelona Lost Its Sanity, the city faces an even darker wave of crimes: a killer turns his victims into living zombies through archaic surgical methods that leave them in a vegetative state. Each mutilated body bears a message: vengeance. Inspector Álex Cortés must uncover the link between victims and executioner, while his sister Ana faces the legacy of the Cryptogram Killer with one mission — to protect her family.

In The Vampire of Barcelona, several sex workers are found murdered with strange marks on their necks. Inspector Álex Cortés faces a new serial killer known as the Vampire of Barcelona, whose victims are vulnerable and forgotten women. As the media fuels hysteria and public opinion turns against him, Álex must solve the case before becoming the villain himself.

In The Last Cryptogram, the Cryptogram Killer launches his final and deadliest challenge: corpses with messages, a prophecy, and a deadly game in which only Álex and Karla are players. The victims are no longer random — they are people with a dark past. In a desperate race to save the wife of Judge Del Pozo, the truth about Barcelona’s most cruel killer is finally revealed.

In A Body in Flames, a charred corpse in a Barcelona tunnel opens the door to a series of murders with the same signature: marks on the wrists, identical injuries, and a modus operandi that terrifies the city. Inspector Álex Cortés must face a new pyromaniac killer.

In The Secret of the Swamp, a drought reveals the dark secrets of a swamp that hides bodies at its bottom — and a serial killer who forces Álex Cortés to move between Barcelona and the eerie Sau reservoir. As the investigation unfolds in a hostile rural environment, the Cryptogram Killer returns with an unexpected twist in the Cortés family’s lives.

In I Live Because I Kill, a murderer sows terror in Barcelona with a chilling message: “I live because I kill.” Inspector Álex Cortés is trapped in a deadly hunt against a criminal who justifies his existence through death. The tension rises when Valeria Eriksson, a renowned journalist, joins the case to document it as a true-crime story.

In The King Is Dead, Long Live the King, Sergeant Álex Cortés, after waking from a coma caused by a gunshot from Néstor Luna’s girlfriend, is drawn into a new and disturbing case: the brutal murder of Jordi Alemany, the corrupt “King of the Forum.” From his hospital bed, Álex leads the investigation alongside Karla and his sister Ana, uncovering a labyrinth of sexual revenge, conspiracies, and corruption within Barcelona’s elite.

In Pool for the Dead, an abandoned swimming pool reveals dozens of corpses and the secret of a serial killer who operated for years undetected. Now, Barcelona becomes his hunting ground as the police launch a desperate race to save the next victim. From the Travessera de les Corts police station, Álex Cortés and his team must decipher the clues and capture a relentless predator.

RELEVANT INFORMATION: Riccardo Braccaioli is a crime thriller writer. He has written several sagas, but it is the Inspector Álex Cortés series that has brought him fame.

With tens of thousands of readers, the Álex Cortés saga builds a universe of dark, addictive crime thrillers where, beyond the incredible cases full of twists, suspense, and action, Barcelona itself becomes a character. Each installment introduces a powerful criminal case with strong narrative force while maintaining a serialized story arc centered on Néstor Luna, Cortés’s true nemesis. Ideal for a production in the vein of Mindhunter or True Detective, featuring a complex protagonist, strong supporting characters, memorable villains, and cliffhangers that keep viewers hooked.

AUDIOVISUAL POTENTIAL: TV Series, Miniseries, Film, TV Film

AVAILABLE LANGUAGES: Spanish, English, French, Italian