The irascible Inspector Pel has failed to give up smoking. A Gauloise magically calms his nerves, in spite of his efforts, and good nerves are just what he needs when a student's mysterious death and the discovery of a corpse in the boot of a car start to uncover a fledgling drug ring.
What is worse, the ring is operating within the university of his own Burgundian city. More murders follow and the trail leads Pel to Innsbruck, where the soignee mistress of a professor turns out to be rather more than she seems.
Moody, sharp-tongued and worrying constantly about his health, Inspector Pel ensures that no case goes unsolved, in these mordantly witty French mysteries.
