"The Body of the Crime" is an anthology of thirteen classic detective stories, in which landmark texts of the genre alternate with lesser-known ones, always with a focus on the demand for exceptional literary quality. Without attempting to be an exhaustive presentation of the detective genre in its countless variations, the anthology provides a representative picture of it, from its precursory forms and establishment to the 1920s.

First comes a story by Hawthorne, which can be considered a precursor of the genre, and the anthology continues with a little-known story by Poe, an author who set the basic lines of detective narration. It is followed by stories by great writers who cultivated it indirectly, such as Dickens, an excellent connoisseur of the underworld, Wilkie Collins, Jack London, Oscar Wilde, and Mark Twain, all combining it with a subtle and pleasant humor. Of course, one of Conan Doyle's famous stories featuring his undeniable hero, Sherlock Holmes, is also included, but lesser-known stories are not omitted, such as those by Baroness Orczy and Richard Austin Freeman, authors who exclusively dedicated themselves to detective literature and achieved great success and popularity in their time. It also includes a story featuring Arsène Lupin, the gentleman burglar, a creation of the French Maurice Leblanc, as well as a story by the American Jacques Futrelle, featuring Professor Van Dusen, known as "The Thinking Machine." The collection concludes with one of Chesterton's stories featuring his famous character Father Brown, who always prefers to set free the petty criminal rather than hand him over to the authorities for punishment.

The edition is accompanied by an in-depth introduction by Juan Antonio Molina Foix, who seeks the roots of detective narration in biblical texts, in "Oedipus" or in "One Thousand and One Nights," and analyzes the shaping and establishment of the genre in the 19th and early 20th centuries.