La main blanche

- Season 1

(2008)

Police detective Franck Mercoeur arrives from St.Nazaire with his deputy Olivier Morel to investigate when a posthumously chopped-off female hand is found in the open-air sea salt extraction of Gwenrann (Guérande) on Normandy's coast. They welcome assistance from forensic anthropologist Marion Ravel and her apprentice Maxime Nau. The scene fits the drawings of unidentified amnesiac schizophrenic 'Isabelle', a self-declared medium. The hand's (missing) wedding ring imprint and DNA confirm she must be Marie, the 90 years earlier disappeared grandmother of Isabelle's ...

Another female hand is found in the salt, again paralleling an 80 year old precedent. It's correspondingly followed by a second kidnapping: Franck Mercoeur's ex, Mathilde Viguier, who was doing her own research. He arrests Catherine's husband, Paul Creuzot, but must release him with apologies. Procureur (D.A.) Jérôme Farche takes Franck off the case for not being objective, but he continues, aided by Olivier. The only other person who consulted the 1918 archives, local history teacher, Patrick Carbonnier, shows his contract for a book on the early serial killer panic....

Now Franck has found the five 1918 missing women's bodies and captive Mathilde in the cave, the procurer puts him back on the case officially. A notebook indicates the 1919 serial killer was Paul's grandfather, psychiatrist Adrien Creuzot, who treated all five, but died from Spanish flu in 1918 and had a hand amputated in the Verdun battles. Another granddaughter must be identified before the next copycat murder is expected in 48 hours. Franck still suspects Patrick Carbonnier, whose grandfather was falsely accused. Forensic expert Dr. Marion Ravel is another ...

Prosecutor Farche enjoys grilling Franck. Isabelle is abducted from the asylum and another severed hand is found in the salt. Olivier and the forensic team find proof of Franck's innocence. They find the abandoned wing of Creuzot's asylum contains the killer's other layer, with another cell used to torture an adolescent, who now must be around 40. Aging his fingerprint leads to a surprising root story in several characters' past. The killer's accomplice attacks, to kick off a hands-on finale.