A brutal robbery, a drugged teenager and the sad delusions of a nervous old lady mean nothing to Henri Castang who finds a parallel between the small town world of gossip and spite, and a fetid corner of a Paris room where a man shot at him. What’s another piece of wanton violence got to do with anything? That’s the question Castang finds himself asking as Nicolas Freeling uncovers the Lake Isle of everyone’s dreams in this enchanting, mysterious fiction.