Those in Peril — Nicolas Freeling

Due to complaints of his handling of an earlier case, Inspector Henri Castang is transferred to Paris and a little-known backwater of the Police Judiciaire: the Fraud Repression unit of the Fine Arts division. There he is to twiddle his thumbs until his persecutors have forgotten about him. Immediately he is beguiled, not so much by art as by his attractive and ambitious young boss, Carlotta Sales.

Back in the Paris suburb where Castang's wife and two daughters are adjusting to their new home, there is more trouble. A friend of one of the Castang girls indicates that a well-respected gentleman is preying upon the schoolgirls invited to his home for cultural discussions.

Castang takes this domestic threat to heart, but since there is no direct evidence, he is obliged to think of a way to entrap the culprit. His elaborately devised snare, typical of his questionable police methods, will eventually involve using his daughter Lydia as bait...