Why must the festive dinner in the Hirschen Inn be interrupted? A murder puts an end to the wedding celebration of Studer's daughter. A man is found with a sharpened bicycle spoke embedded in his back, and a suspect is quickly arrested - a bit too quickly, thinks Studer. Property speculation, usury and betrayed love find their way into this tightly written mystery novel that calls on Studer's intuitive, often absurd, yet efficient police methods. "The Spoke", a European crime classic, was first published in 1937. It has been translated into six languages. This is its first publication in English.