Who could imagine that in a place like Santa Isabel, a retreat house of the Opus Dei on the outskirts of Bilbao, among old friends called together to remember the good times, a tragedy could happen? Which reasons could Luis Raymond have to commit suicide? A man like him, a rich shipping magnate, happily married to the countess of Beaulieu. Why did he use as a weapon a Basque makila with the inscription hitzemana zor (given word, oath)? What does that mean?

The Basque and lesbian policewoman Felicidad Olaizola takes on the investigation of the strange death and, according to the instructions from her boss, she must do it discretely to avoid scandal, since the people involved (a councilor of the Nationalist Basque Party, two outstanding entrepreneurs, a lawyer of the Basque government, and an upper official of the European Commission) are very important people who shouldn’t be disturbed under any circumstances.

As in his previous novel Meat Skewer, Javier Otaola narrates the investigation of a violent suicide and explores the thin line between good and evil.