On his first case, César investigates the apparently accidental death of a rising local football star with the help of the medical examiner, Dr. Beaumont.

César is called to a curious crime scene: a young woman has been found completely drained of blood. The victim is a Romanian delegate to the European Court of Human Rights. Did someone say vampire?

Two people are found dead within hours of each other near the Museum of Modern Art. Evidence shows that they knew each other and were both linked to a celebrated local designer, Peter Breck — Dr. Beaumont’s husband.

A dead man in a Nazi costume leads investigators to Neo-Nazi circles at the heart of the University of Strasbourg — and to the legend of the Rhine gold.

Someone finds a human finger in a bottle of beer from a local brewery — owned by César's cousins. He is determined to solve the mystery before the local press gets wind of it.