It is from these feeding cultures from which sprang jealousy, resentfulness, malevolence and intolerance. Like humankind, they slowly dried up and split open, becoming avid and infertile. It was these burned lands that ended up devouring hearts and souls.

The Nancy police force is undergoing a general inspection. Andreani and his partner, Couturier, inherit the Rémi Fournier file. It appears simple: he was found dead, having suffocated following a heart attack he suffered when his lodge caught fire. The highest police authority orders them to close the case, and fast. But why?

Andreani’s instinct prompts him, once again, to lead his own inquiry. And so begins a journey back in time where he will have to dig up the purulent memories left over by the two world wars, particularly in Moselle.

Manipulation, denunciation, legacies, nationalism and anti-semitism: Andreani and Couturier may well be confronted with the most complex investigation of their career.

After A Job to Finish, which was set during the war of Algeria, the duo, who hide behind the pseudonym “Eric Todenne”, continue to focus on the links and the impact that collective history can have on individual destinies.