Commissioner Adamsberg and his team are undergoing training supervised by the Quebec scientific police. He discovers the murder of a young girl.

For months a strange phrase has been found scrawled on Paris sidewalks next to chalk circles containing odd objects. Policeman Adamsberg gets involved when a dead woman is found in one of the circles.

A wave of carnage is sweeping through Southern France, with locals blaming the return of wolves. However some begin talking of a werewolf, and Police Captain Adamsberg must investigate.

A gruesome discovery is made outside a London cemetery one night. Meanwhile in Paris, Police Captain Adamsberg discovers a body chopped into pieces. Could there be a link?

After three elderly men are bitten by spiders, everyone assumes that their deaths are tragic accidents. But at police headquarters in Paris, Inspector Adamsberg begins to suspect that the case is far more complex than first appears.