April 1955 - in a few days, the Federal Republic of Germany will sign an official Peace Treaty with the Allies and assume full sovereignty over her affairs. The nation looks to a bright future, but ghosts of a darker past linger unquietly - not least among those charged with her defence. In West Berlin, celebrations are muted by the enclave's continuing occupation and a string of murders whose investigation, rigorous at first, appears to be stalling. Rumours are rife that the body count has been understated, and theories regarding motives and perpetrators circulate widely and wildly.Untouched equally by political developments and lurid opinions on bloody crimes, Otto Fischer attends to his own modest business, burdened only by a local widow's ruthless campaign to drag him to the altar. But when a stranger offers him a great deal of money to arrange a mildly illegal matter he breaks the habit of a lifetime and fails to examine the gift-horse's mouth with sufficient care. Soon, ghosts, politics, murder and a maul of rival Intelligence agencies are collaborating with the widow to make either suicide or Buenos Aires his most attractive option.