A modern comedy, as ironic as Jane's own. But this is also a tale of love and death in the cynical political worlds of Strasbourg and Paris. As we discover, "There's no one like Jane in a tight place." "William doesn't lurk and neither does he stalk; it gets noticed. Incompetent and illegal, and he has no intention of disturbing Doctor Holier-than-Thou - or not for the moment; that's the fellow who would be quick to make a complaint and he's no longer a serving cop: status dodgy. He'll pounce though on poor Mireille. She's easy to spot; the studio is in the Robertsau quarter for prestige and she has a little Spider, Italian racing red, old but bold. She's also very pretty - really Ray has good taste, he thinks when she looms. He looms too, large and cop-like. . . ." A man as young and robust as William might get cancer, and a doctor like Raymond find Jane Austen a better treatment than chemicals. But who beat up Raymond on a dark street? Who set William's house on fire? Had that to do with loving William's wife?
