Verónica Rosenthal books in order

Buenos Aires investigative journalist Veronica Rosenthal takes on cases the city's powerful would rather keep buried — child trafficking, missing women, political corruption — while navigating a personal life that is never quite as controlled as her professional one. Sergio S. Olguin's dark, socially engaged Argentine noir series runs to four novels translated into English by Miranda France.

Reading order

# Title Published Author Buy on Amazon
1 The Fragility of Bodies 2012 Sergio S. Olguín N/A
2 The Fragility of Bodies / La fragilidad de los cuerpos 2012 Sergio S. Olguín Buy
3 The Foreign Girls / Las extranjeras 2014 Sergio S. Olguín Buy
4 There Are No Happy Loves / No hay amores felices 2016 Sergio S. Olguín Buy
5 The Best Enemy / La mejor enemiga 2021 Sergio S. Olguín Buy

The Veronica Rosenthal series opens in 2012 with The Fragility of Bodies — a novel that takes its time before the violence begins, building Veronica as a character and Buenos Aires as a city before the case reveals itself. The case, when it emerges, involves a ring of powerful men orchestrating something deeply criminal, and Veronica’s investigation requires her to use every professional tool she has alongside some she technically should not.

Each subsequent novel in the series takes Veronica into a different corner of Buenos Aires’s entangled worlds of power, crime, and journalism. The Foreign Girls (2014) moves her into a case involving women from outside the city. There Are No Happy Loves (2016) is the most personally difficult case of the series. The Best Enemy (2021) arrived after a five-year gap and showed Olguin returning to the character with new complexity and slightly darker stakes.

The English translations by Miranda France — a literary translator with her own reputation in Latin American literature — preserve the Buenos Aires texture and Veronica’s voice with care. All four are published by Bitter Lemon Press, the UK specialist in international crime fiction.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many books are in the Verónica Rosenthal series?

There are five books in the Verónica Rosenthal series, published between 2012 and 2021.

What is the first book in the Verónica Rosenthal series?

The first book in the Verónica Rosenthal series is The Fragility of Bodies, published in 2012.

In what order should I read the Veronica Rosenthal series?

The four novels should be read in publication order: The Fragility of Bodies (2012), The Foreign Girls (2014), There Are No Happy Loves (2016), and The Best Enemy (2021). The series is not a single continuous narrative in the way that some crime series are, but Veronica develops across the books, and the later novels draw on relationships and experiences established earlier. The Fragility of Bodies is the right starting point — it introduces Veronica, her professional methods, and the Buenos Aires world Olguin has built, and the case at its centre is among the most gripping of the series.

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