From an Edgar award-winner, a shrewd French detective investigates murder in "a meditative, dark, ironic installment in the unconventional Castang series" (Kirkus Reviews). Two violent murders one after another in a provincial district in France is more than enough to agitate the astute mind of Inspector Henri Castang. Especially since the first was so gruesome-he suspects the corpse has been cannibalized. The second killing leads him to a teenage prostitute whose youth and beauty can hardly mask the evil within. Soon enough Castang is questioning human nature itself, even as his investigation opens into political intrigue-and corruption that strikes a little too close to home. Praise for Nicolas Freeling: "In depth of characterization, command of language and breadth of thought, Mr. Freeling has few peers when it comes to the international policier." -The New York Times "Nicolas Freeling . . . liberated the detective story from page-turning puzzler into a critique of society and an investigation of character." -The Daily Telegraph "Freeling rewards with his oblique, subtly comic style." -Publishers Weekly "Freeling writes like no one. . . . He is one of the most literate and idiosyncratic of crime writers." -Los Angeles Times

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