Murder or manslaughter? Judge for yourself. Hans Lach is arrested on suspicion of murder. At his publisher's party, he threatened a feared critic. The next morning, the critic's blood-soaked sweater is found, but there is no trace of the body. New suspects keep emerging. A deadly game of deception begins, as there is much to say about the writer's guilt or innocence, but it is hard to decide. Even before its first appearance, this novel was heavily and controversially judged. It sparked the biggest literary scandal of recent decades. "Relentlessly clever and almost prophetic." Sigrid Löffler.