Unknown origin, Danielle Thiéry

Following in the footsteps of her own history, a female cop conducts a cruel and bewildering investigation.

One Sunday morning, in the Lyon suburbs, young Commissioner Edwige Marion is enjoying the first days of her vacation when a truck approaches her small, isolated house. The delivery man unpacks fifteen boxes in front of the astonished young woman, sent by a notary: the inheritance of an unknown person... The very next day, she rushes to the ministerial officer and learns the identity of the sender: Gus Léman. Her father's best friend has just died and has bequeathed her this strange inheritance. Marion remembers little of him. She was five when her father died. Then Gus disappeared, and she never saw him again. Why, after more than thirty years, does he resurface from the past? Why did he choose her as his heir? Her detective instincts awaken when the notary tells her that Gus was murdered. Quercy, her superior, who knew her father well, reveals that Gus was a famous robber in the 60s, and they never managed to catch him. Her father, a cop, friend of a robber? Marion doesn't like uncertainty, nor this shadow that extends over her history. She goes to Charmes, a small village in Burgundy where Gus lived. The inhabitants live withdrawn into their past and their secrets. She encounters the distrust of some and others, the ill will of the gendarmerie. Understanding that she can't count on anyone, she breaks into Gus's deserted house, despite the seals. The house is empty; no clues, but everywhere a persistent smell, which she knows without being able to identify it. A smell that belongs to her past... The next day, Gus's small house is set on fire. As she returns to Lyon, Marion is the victim of an extremely violent assault. The medical examiner who performed the autopsy on Gus's body receives threats, the notary in charge of the robber's estate dies in mysterious circumstances. Furthermore, it's impossible to find the files concerning Gus... Marion feels followed. Her calls are being tapped. She fears for her daughter, Nina, whom she involves, once again and quite unintentionally, in her life as a cop. So, she returns home, determined this time to confront the inheritance. In the boxes, she finds a photo of Gus. On her mother's arm...