When, in his later years, Sargeant Studer told the story of the Chinaman he also called it the Story of the Three Places as the case unfolded in a country Inn, a poorhouse and a horticultural college, all in a Swiss village. Three places, but two murders. Anna Hungerlott, supposedly dead of gastric influenza, left behind traces of arsenic, and James Farny, nicknamed The Chinaman, was found dead lying on Anna's grave. Studer must reconstitute the Chinaman's story, a voyage through asylums, reform schools and institutions for the destitute.