He's moved to a dull but respectable hotel where silence seems to brood in the hall and stairway. In a secret drawer, he discovers a long, thick hank of human hair, and his world narrows down to two people -- himself and the murderer.
Based on the life of the painter Paul Gauguin, this book relates the life of a Paris stockbroker who abandons his home, family, and business to live as an artist in Tahiti.