1889. As crowds rush to climb the newly unveiled Eiffel Tower, a young governess is borne up to its highest platform in the mayhem. Suddenly a scream rings out and onlookers turn away from the balcony - to find her dead. In the days that follow death strikes again and again across the city, claiming more victims who visited the tower that day.
Victor Legris, bookshop owner and amateur sleuth, is determined to find the killer. The trail leads him from art dealers to slumlords, buzzing newspaper offices to literary salons and even his own bookshop. And the more Victor investigates, the more he risks everything he holds dear.