One by one, over a period of several years, the wife and children of prominent Hamburg citizen Maximilian Holler are being slain. The police are stumped. Are the murders connected? Why would someone want to destroy the family of a much respected businessman and philanthropist? Is there a serial killer on the loose? Is Holler as blameless a victim as he seems?<BR>Trying to help an old friend-become-policeman discover who and what is at the root of these crimes, history professor Josef Stachelmann becomes embroiled in a tragic and shocking case that has roots stretching far back into the past, all the way to the Nazi regime that is his own area of expertise. By the time he realises that he is due to become the next victim of the mysterious murderer, it is almost too late. Can he find the truth in time to save his own life and that of the one surviving Holler child?