This is the first of three completed novels in which fictional Vienna Police Inspector KARL MARBACH is a central character. The story takes place in mid April of 1938, one month after the Anschluss, the Nazi annexation of Austria. Although born into a poor family, the police inspector identifies with the deposed Royal House of Habsburg. In his work and in his life, the police inspector prides himself on being guided by reason, not emotion. His lover is Volkstheater actress CONSTANZE TANDLER. He is concerned that her emotional hatred of Nazism is putting her in danger.