Richard Brock will never be the life of the party--the last time he laughed was probably 15 years ago--but what he lacks in social skills he makes up in sheer professionalism and introspection: he wants every door opened, even if he and the killer get locked into a duel of razor-sharp intellects. As a police psychologist, Brock must step on many toes in order to get to the bottom of things. And he doesn't look favorably upon ready-made judgments and motives that interlock too well.
It's precisely his grim way that drives his colleagues up a wall--including his daughter, a young policewoman who works by the book and wishes her father did the same. Brock's closest relationship is with the innkeeper where he lodges, an unshakable young man intrigued by the inner workings of the psychologist's mind--and who's always ready to whip up an omelet for him. Rounding off the roster is Anni, the big-hearted woman who cleans, cooks, and keeps a watchful eye on Brock.
Somewhere today a murder is taking place in Vienna; sometime tomorrow, Richard Brock will be trying to understand the murderer.