Bieler’s Dilemma is an intelligent mixture of psychological study, conventional detective story, and philosophical passages on the deeper meaning of law and justice in society in general, and in the judiciary in particular.

At the heart of the novel is the question of whether a murder planned long in advance might be justified or even morally imperative under certain circumstances. Bieler’s Dilemma is not a crime novel in the classical sense. The focus is not on the search for the murderer, but on the question of whether there could be a just motive for murder. Four different characters confront each other: a nihilist, a realist, a do-gooder, and a rationalist. An ambiguous game begins, in which the inspector ends up in a veritable conflict. He has to decide between law and justice, duty and morality. The end, at any rate, is surprising.

Plot:

The chief surgeon of a German heart clinic is murdered in Zurich. Inspector Bieler investigates and comes up against a wall of silence….

All the suspects have an alibi and yet are involved in the story in a strange way. It is possible, however, that there is a diabolical plan behind the apparent coincidences and that all the actors are merely playing a dramaturgically elaborate game.