"In Nazi-occupied Vienna, a string of unsolved murders has thrown the residents of one apartment building into a state of uneasy watchfulness. Anton Beer, a young doctor who has made a study of forensic psychology, is asked by the retired Professor Speckstein to investigate. It is an unwelcome request: Speckstein's job is to spy on the building's residents for the Nazis, and Doctor Beer has his own reasons for keeping his private life hidden from public scrutiny. When Beer discovers a paralyzed young woman in a neighbor's apartment, his life is further complicated. The woman is unable to talk and deathly ill, and Beer, whose own wife has recently left him, smuggles her into his home to nurse her in secret."--Publisher.