Scientists claim we all have thirteen secrets, mostly harmless, yet a few are dark and deadly.

     Expats living in the small medieval town of Pontiac in south-eastern France are all hiding secrets within secrets, criminal, socially forbidden or both.  They include a frustrated nun, a demented builder, a corrupt estate agent, a swinging couple and gangland boss.  The arrival of Curtis Harvey exposes the layers of deceit they hide behind and they will do anything, even murder, to keep their true selves from being exposed to the light. 

     Divorced with two grown up daughters Curtis is free to travel.  Troubled by an itch he cannot scratch he has his own secrets.  There is a storm in his head over the death of a young woman from years before and driven by a desire for revenge he won’t stop digging to find justice.   He does achieve respite searching for rare wine that puts him in contact with the Les Dames Qui Fait and the chance to assist a victim of Nazi atrocities reclaim her heritage. 

     Curtis falls in love with Sergeant Angelique Dubois of the police municipal and her vulnerable young daughter Pascal, but this brings distorted pleasures and emotional conflict.  He buys a house and a business in Pontiac, putting down roots.  Attending French language classes brings Curtis in contact with migrants that he admires for their resilience and recruits them to work for him. 

     As the his investigation gathers momentum Curtis travels far and wide across Europe, under the darkening clouds of right-wing extremism, before a bloody denouement in Pontiac.