After suffering only a slight bullet wound to the arm, Dupont fakes his death with the help of the shady Doctor Juard.
A newly promoted investigator, Wallas, tries to find those responsible for the assassination, despite there being no body recovered by the police.
The narration of the plot is presented from the point of view of the different characters in the novel, sometimes switching viewpoints between paragraphs.
The reader has access to the thoughts of investigators, culprits, and victims alike giving a biased, though comprehensive view of the events surrounding the assassination.
Wallas repeatedly intends to interview Doctor Juard, but he is continually being sidetracked and having to start the investigation over.