Description

It is 1790 and the French Revolution is moving fast.
Catholic Church property has been nationalised and is being sold off to reduce the vast state debts. Monastic orders have largely been dissolved. King Louis XVl has been forced to accept the changes. Now, all clergy are being required to swear an Oath of Allegiance to the State.

Pierre Reynard, now promoted to Canon, struggles with his conscience over whether to take the Oath. Many of his colleagues have refused, and been expelled from France. Resistance is brutally crushed.

Against this background, as though things were not bad enough, members of the clergy are being murdered, so fuelling the unrest. There are numerous suspects including a female assassin and a most unusual giant.

It is Commissaire Rouget Maison's task to stop the killings and arrest the murderers. In this, he is assisted by a new young, radical policeman, Inspector Jules Drabert, and obstructed by an old rival, Inspector Anton Fevrier, who hates everything the two of them stand for.