A Turkish worker is stabbed to death in Frankfurt's red-light district - no reason for the police to work overtime. Kemal Kayankaya, however, has a different attitude. A 26-year-old, born in Turkey but raised in Germany, he is no stranger to the wrong end of racial harassment. He is also a private investigator, hired to find the killer and the motive for the crime. Not only by colour, but also by character and profession, Kayankaya is the outsider and the outcast, looking in at a rampantly unjust society. In his pursuit of the killer he encounters vicious pimps, over-eager bouncers and easy women, survives beatings, gas attacks and a close encounter with a Fiat and uncovers a drug ring built on the exploitation of Turkish immigrants. Jakob Arjouni's novel confronts police corruption, endemic racism and the spiritual malaise in the German body politic.