A phrase that now sounds from another era: “Ladies first.” Although not one of these authors and protagonists need such gallantry. Nor the gentlemen who, below, are part of this selection of intrigues from this and other times.

For example, The Chambermaid (Duomo), by the Canadian Nita Prose, is an authentic and rare girl, who makes a living cleaning in a Grand Hotel. Her look is strategic, especially when she finds a corpse. And since we are talking about lost language, Alicia Giménez Bartlett is absolutely right about it in her prologue to La gota de sangre (Siruela), one of the two novels in which Emilia Pardo Bazán launched into the Connan Doyle enigma, with this young man named Selva who, at the end of this installment, will end up in England perfecting himself as a detective. The book is a charming and fresh enigma of a guy who walks through that stately Madrid until someone places an obscure test on him. It is worth remembering the edition by José María Paz Gago, with the second part: The mysteries of Selva (Ézaro)

From that beginning of the century to today, this new lady: we follow the intelligent Sofía Amorretti in her new life on the Cantabrian coast. Remarkable that Playa Soledad (Espasa) where she goes, after breaking with her prosperous career as a telecommunications engineer, and haunted by a ghost: that of her father. Remarkable debut, fine irony, special characters. Melania Sebastián is also a playwright. As for The Lady / The Lady of Reykjavíc (Seix Barral / Column) created by Ragnar Jónasson, her name is Hulda and her boss has decided to retire her from the Reykjavík police force. But she – gloomy, unpredictable – does not give up. She will see what she does.

Arantza Portabales is an excellent storyteller. The man who killed Antía Morgade (Lumen) runs in two stages. That of a group of foster children, and that of the dramatic (and criminal) reunion of those children, now adults, who have lived –and fought– however they could. And what to say about the great Louise Penny, with hers, her inspector, Gamache, hers at a costume party in the hidden town, the inexhaustible Three Pines. Everyone there, and a guy dressed in black very close, in Casas de cristal (Salamandra).

And I won’t leave this world of ladies without talking about my beloved, deceitful, authentic and impulsive Agatha Raisin, who in this Agatha Raisin and the bloody wedding (Salamander) begins having a really bad time, when everything in her life should be happiness. M.C. Beaton has laid a formidable trap for him.

There are stories that hypnotize. The personal drama of inspector Milo Malart, created by Aro Sáinz de la Maza, has been the seed of his genius. We see her in his best form in Malart (Destiny), with two corpses in the sea, the sagacity of the investigator (oh, that crime with a basketball!) And the bewilderment of his companions. And, speaking of researchers, Ricardo Blanco, the creation of José Luis Correa, returns in his thirteenth installment. The author from the Canary Islands, with his personal style, forces his researcher to do something very difficult, in that one, The Caged Station (Alba), with a body that appears floating on the coast.

And then, to stick to the chair: just reading the name of Harlan Coben on the cover, I think of the tremendous cunning of the creator of Myron Bolitar, in his stunts, also in film and television. There is only one winner (RBA) introduces us to a millionaire character, a plot around some stolen paintings and a Vermeer in a Manhattan penthouse. I always fall into this author’s networks.

Not only investigators are haunted by old crimes. The journalist Mariano Sánchez Soler charges A litter of corpses (Alrevés) with the murder of Yolanda Sánchez Martín, a left-wing activist, in 1980, among other cases that are part of the history of Spain. And the also journalists Enrique Figueredo and Pere Cullell present in Mala gente (Destination) a journey through twelve real cases, from the blackest Spain: Puerto Hurraco, El Dioni… In Sense càstig (La Campana) Tura Soler and Jordi Grau they return to ten unresolved criminal matters.

Let’s go back to fiction: Massimo Carlotto impresses with Otro invierno llegará / Vindrà un another winter (Alrevés / Crims.cat), a claustrophobic story of characters with secrets and faults. And in Crims.cat two stories that should not be overlooked. La cuarta chica por la izquierda / La quarta noia por l’esquerra (Alrevés / Crims.cat), by Andreu Martin, which recreates Barcelona at the beginning of the 20th century.

As Josep Sala i Cullell returns to Calle Escudellers, where a young girl fell from the top of her building. The mysterious death of Dolors Bernabeu (Portic) deals with that real event, from 1925. But not everything is over. Toni Aira creates a detective story, with humor and nightmares, with current politics and with elections here a la vuelta: Cos a terra (La Campana).

Here’s to the recovery of the first novel in the Morse series, by one of the smartest detective authors, Colin Dexter. For those who don’t know, the television series Endeavor portrays the youth of this Oxford inspector, impertinent, cultured and lonely. Last Bus to Woodstock (Siruela) begins with the crime of a young woman, with Morse in a bad temper, and reminding us that Sergeant Lewis is an art historian.

The recent Pepe Carvalho award, Leonardo Padura, puts his researcher Mario Conde among Decent Persons (Tusquets). From the irony of the title to the power of a narrative that investigates different lines of Cuba’s past and present. The death of a former leader, from the hardest line of the revolution, Obama’s visit…

In this Galician town no one is indifferent to the surname Leal. That of that very sick police inspector from Barcelona who returns there and seems to attract death. Nobody on this earth (Destiny) by Víctor del Árbol is read breathlessly. And be careful with the Sevillian Juan Ramón Biedma, who has gone through different registers of the genre. This time he throws himself into an intrigue in search of a work of art, in the same city as him in 1936. Crisanta (Alianza) is a great work –a historical thriller– by this award-winning author.

Thriller heavyweights: murky, dark, absorbing. There is no Donato Carrisi novel from which the reader can escape. The Man of the Labyrinth (Duomo) begins with the reappearance of a girl –now an adult– who disappeared years ago. And what about Jo Nesbo, who in Eclipse / Eclipsi (Reservoir Books / Proa) puts Harry Hole on the ropes, who is looking for his new life in Los Angeles. But in Oslo there is a millionaire who gives parties with girls, and something happens with some of them. The Danish Steffen Jacobsen achieves with The Hunt (Rock) a mixture of amazement and curiosity. An old business, the recording of a manhunt, and at the same time a suicide in Copenhagen.

And this book that should not be overlooked. It begins with a trans tied to a chair, held captive by a group of madmen, in some corner of this civilized Barcelona. Youseff El Maimouni tells his story, his journey and that of his friends. Social novel in the best, and fierce, sense, Nobody saves the roses (Roca) impresses as an x-ray of this city of ores, of marginals and people of will, and for the truth that its characters emanate.