When five murders disturb his sleepy Burgundian city on Bastille night, Chief Inspector Evariste Clovis Desire Pel has his work cut out for him. A terrorist group is at work and with the President due to make an official visit in a few weeks' time, the pressure is on to uncover them and stop them in their tracks.
Meanwhile, Pel continues his courtship of the delightful Madame Faivre-Perret, and hopes one day to escape the tyranny of his TV-addicted landlady - but none of this distracts him from his goal of unmasking the murderers and stealing the would-be assassins' power.
Moody, sharp-tongued and worrying constantly about his health, Inspector Pel ensures that no case goes unsolved, in these mordantly witty French mysteries.
