Paris is in mourning. At the firework display marking the Dauphin s marriage to Marie Antoinette, hundreds of people have been injured or crushed to death. Yet not all the victims died accidentally... The tragic incident on Place Louis XV yields a new case for Commissioner Le Floch when a strangled woman is found amongst the other corpses. The investigation takes him to the home of a furrier on Rue Royale where he must deal not just with its curious residents but also face the terrifying forces of the supernatural.