The young artist Sabine Held is suspected of having beaten to death celebrity astrologist Philip Ross; she had painted some frescoes for the ceiling of his villa, and apparently Ross refused to pay the young woman. Inspector Allberg finds one of Dr Lessing’s visiting cards in Sabine Held’s home, and thus it emerges that she had consulted Lessing for advice about the fresco dispute with Ross. Now Lessing takes charge of her defence and discovers that Sabina was found unconscious next to the dead astrologist. So far there has been no trace of the murder weapon. And the other perplexing fact about the whole case is that a fire broke out in the astrologist’s villa at almost exactly the same time. Did this young woman really beat Ross to death and then start a fire which she was unable to escape from? It quickly becomes apparent that there is something fishy about the whole affair...
