An investigative journalist is found beaten to death in his home, where the fingerprints of a notorious criminal debt collector are also found. The murdered journalist has been threatened by right wing extremists, but it is the victim’s work with a book about “society’s dark side” that captures the Beck group’s interest. When the case takes an unexpected and terrible turn, there is suddenly much more at stake than finding the journalist’s killer. Martin Beck and his colleagues have never had to protect the balance of their professional and private lives with the same tenacity as they do now.

An intricate triangle drama is placed at its apex around the deathbed of a mother.