Summary of the novel:

In a city in southern Germany, the director of a school is found murdered. Suspicion falls on Professor Alexander Strasser, who has been in conflict with the director for some time.

Strasser was still at school the night of the murder. He has no alibi because that night he was involved in a robbery in the director's office, which he wants to cover up.

Did he also kill the director, perhaps in a panic attack? He claims to be innocent, but to avoid being arrested he flees to Spain.

His friend Winfried is convinced of his innocence and gets him false documents. However, when Winfried reads her friend's diary and learns that he has been abused as a child, she begins to have second thoughts.

Suspicion arises that Alex is haunted by fantasies of violence and dominated by a hatred of authoritarian father figures.

Do memories of early childhood violence have such an influence on him that he murdered his principal? The diaries make this seem more and more likely.

An affair with a woman who is clearly taking advantage of him, and who could be the intellectual author of the murder, adds more complications to the course of events. Dramatic encounters with the police, an exchange of gunfire and another violent death force the professor to continue his seemingly desperate escape.

An exciting crime novel that also provides a behind-the-scenes critical look at German schools and classrooms.

The author himself taught English and Spanish at a school. Therefore, his caustic criticism of the school system, with its often inadequate conditions, is no accident.

The theme of friendship runs through the novel as a positive counter-moment, one that will fascinate readers of all ages, whether or not they remember their own school days.

Keywords: friendship, domestic violence, childhood trauma, love disappointment, deficiencies of the school in Germany, professional ambition