Among the ancient vineyards sits the chapel, Notre Dame de la Salette, in which has occurred the brutal murder of two young lovers. Why? When? How? Who? A crime so horrid rarely occurs in Catalan country, let alone in the peaceful village of Banyuls-sur-Mer, comfortably nestled at the base of the precipitous Albères as they plunge into the sea the eastern end of the lofty Pyrénées, the border between France and Spain.
Told by an American anthropologist, Peter Phillips, friend and lover of Jacqueline Mouchot, the story unwinds from the impossible to the possible in a narrative form that will remind the reader of Agatha Christie's famous character, Messr. Hercule Poirot.