Deutsche Buchgemeinschaft

Joseph Völz, a punctual, rule-bound tax officer from Cologne’s Bergisches Land, expects life to run like his orderly forms, until his daughter Grete, back from Scotland, rejects his small-town ways for big-city Berlin. Unable to reach her in Cologne, Völz and his friend Schickedanz follow her to the capital. There, Joseph is charmed by a hotel clerk and briefly considers remarriage, while Schickedanz’s own advances also fail. Ultimately, Grete returns home, teaching Joseph that his rigid world only seems turbulent to himself.

In 1923, Ludwig Bodmer, a young man returning from the war, works in the gravestone company of his comrade Georg Kroll during the period of inflation. Business is going well, but inflation robs them of their profits and people suffer under the circumstances of the time. The "lost generation" in particular, the survivors of the First World War, of which Ludwig is one, struggles to find a place in society.

Grete, the daughter of the widowed Cologne dog tax inspector Joseph Völz, once married a British occupying soldier and followed him to the Scottish provinces. When she now visits her father, he soon realizes that her marriage has gone awry. He tries to resolve the crisis by taking a trip to Scotland, but his insensitive nature causes even more damage, even though he gets on well with his son-in-law - who ensures that the whisky is properly taxed at the local factory.

Paris, 1888. With the help of forensic medicine, a sensational criminal case is uncovered. The chief of the Paris Sûreté, Inspector Goron, with the help of Lyon University Professor Lacassagne, is able to solve a capital crime that seemed unsolvable according to the methods of forensic science at the time. By analyzing the bone structure, Lacassagne identifies an unknown dead man as the Parisian civil servant Alphonse Gouffé, who disappeared months ago, and is also able to prove that he was murdered. The murder suspects include Gabrielle Bompard and her lover Michele Eyraudt.

A 45-year-old employee‘s future begins to falter. He rightly fears that he will fall victim to his new manager's rationalization measures. But he doesn't want to bow to his "fate" so easily: in the fight for his livelihood, he resorts to dirty means himself.

Drama about the shipwreck of the frigate "Méduse" off the coast of Senegal. In France, the commander responsible, Chaumarey, is finally put on trial.