Camille Fauvel, a former medical examiner and now crime novel writer has returned to Granville and she preparing a new novel. In the morning she was jogging on the beach and discovered the corpse of a man who has been tortured.The police captain Damien Bonaventure and the district attorney arrive at the beach where they meet Camille Fauvel.She explains them that the man has been tortured according to an old Viking ritual.Camille proposes to do the autopsy of the corpse and the district attorney agrees with this idea.