[1] Inspiration for the plot came from the Austrian poet Ingeborg Bachmann's unfinished novel The Franza Case, which Dürrenmatt's second wife, documentary filmmaker Charlotte Kerr, was attempting to turn into a film at the time of their meeting.

The Chief of Police appears to be cooperative, however, after a police-escorted visit to the Al-Hakim ruins where the body was found, F.'s cameraman reveals that his footage has been replaced.

In despair, F. leaves her crew and walks alone through the marketplace, where she comes across the distinctive red fur coat she knows belonged to Tina von Lambert.

At the hotel F.'s cameraman tells her that his footage has again been taken, this time that of the execution, and that aeroplane tickets out of the country have been booked for them for early the following morning.

In her room, F. finds the Head of the Secret Service, who congratulates her on her work and explains that he will use her confiscated footage to expose the corruption, weakness, and incompetence of the Chief of Police, who is planning a coup against the state government.

On the way she finds Olsen's dead body next to his exploded Volkswagen van, and while she examines the disaster she meets the cameraman Polypheme, who is filming her.

Polypheme tells F. that he has video footage of Sörensen, who was on the trail of a secret before her death, and offers to show it to F. if she allows him to make a film portrait of her.

Later in the evening she leaves her room and explores the compound, trying to track down the source of a mysterious hammering sound, which she traces to a locked door with a key in the keyhole.

The already ten-year-long war is continued to serve as a testing ground for the military products of weapons-exporting nations, from tanks to intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Polypheme explains that he has taken shelter in the compound and military employment because his habit of collecting sensitive and potentially ruinous photographic documentation of criminals, police, and political figures makes him a target from all sides.

The excerpt highlights the anxiety and uncertainty of being, and appears again in the novel as a clue to the true identity of the murder victim thought to be Tina von Lambert.

Terrorism The underground desert compound is symbolic of the labyrinth in Greek mythology, built by Daedalus for King Minos of Crete to house the Minotaur.

[4] Kerr's 1992 book portraying her marriage is titled Die Frau im roten Mantel (The Woman in the Red Coat).