Jan Miller wakes up one day with a hangover and makes a horrifying discovery: his wife is dead in the bath... Inspector Van Veeteren quickly realises that this is no accident.

One quiet spring morning a man leaves prison after spending most of his adult life there. The man was convicted of murder, not once but twice. Now he has served his sentence and takes the bus back to his small hometown. But is everything forgiven and forgotten?

Inspector Van Veeteren is taking his last holiday before retirement, however two grim murders in two towns draw him back to his job. The joint investigation is not going smoothly and it's not always clear to Van Veeteren who his allies are.

When the corpse of a wealthy wine merchant washes up on the beach, police fear a media frenzy. Münster is assigned the case. A former partner of the victim is quickly arrested however Münster is not convinced and continues on his own to the annoyance of his superiors. He stumbles upon a family secret. When he is taken off the case, he gets the help of Van Veeteren.

An unfortunate car accident in which a child is killed sets off a chain of murders. Moreno and Münster are shocked when they find one of the victims. The dead man is Erich Van Veeteren, the son of their former boss.

A girl is found murdered shortly after leaving a religious sect. Moreno's investigation stalls as members close ranks. Only when a second victim's bloody fingernails appear in the police's mailbox do tongues loosen. Moreno must catch the deranged killer before there is a third victim.

Münster discovers the body of a young woman strangled in her home and surprises the killer who is still on the premises. The killer manages to escape but leaves behind a unusual book at the crime scene. The book contains a message from the culprit. When another victim is found, Van Veeteren's literary skills are put to the test to stop the serial killer before more murders are committed.

Van Veeteren's only unsolved case resurfaces when the daughter of a private investigator comes to visit him. A violent wife-killer who disappeared underground years ago now seems to have resurfaced with a new name and is involved in a new murder. Van Veeteren has both professional and personal reasons to catch him.