1900. On the heights of Algier, the home of the Wandell family has just been the scene of a massacre. Six murders: masters and servants have been slain. Everything suggests that two convicts, released from the penal colony and working there, sought this as a means of escape. Lieutenant Julien Koestler, tasked with the case, sets out to search for them through the bustling crowds of Algiers. But the investigator must navigate a city that, echoing Dreyfus’ affair, trembles under the pressure of anti-Semitism dividing the population of French settlers.
Not to mention this series of robberies targeting employees of several banks while on duty. And shouldn’t we also try to learn more about that horrifying colonial expedition in Black Africa involving the Wandell family a few months earlier?
In this new detective novel, Gwenaël Bulteau once again takes us on an investigation full of suspense and twists. With his usual talent for capturing people and eras, he thrusts us under the African sun into the heart of these hours of turmoil and fury.
