This is a collection of seven short stories including A Parricide, A Portrait, A Stroll, Father Milon, Rose, The Drunkard and The Penguin's Rock. He is a young carpenter. He is an illegitimate child. He is particularly intelligent, "with the good taste and native refinement." But he should kill his best customers, a "rich and generous" couple. He is Georges Louis, the hero of A Parricide. His lawyer pleads insanity, the sole reason that can be offered. But Georges Louis refuses to go to an insane asylum and speaks out a shocking fact—he kills the couple because they are none other than his own parents. What is it that drives a son to kill his father and mother? It turns out that he has already been corroded by bitterness, which, more or less, has an affinity with the victims. This is a tragedy involving three seemingly innocent lives. Even an upright judge finds it difficult to cope with it. "If we were jurymen, what would we do with this parricide?"

《弑亲》从平凡琐屑的事物中截取富有典型意义的片断，以小见大地概括出生活的真实。在这篇小说中，一对夫妇平时对一个木匠非常照顾，给他很多生意做，但却被这个木匠杀害了。人们百思不得其解，只能解释说他是因为古怪的政治思想而导致了精神错乱。罪犯拒绝人们给出的理由和宽容，只求一死，让事情更加扑朔迷离。事情的真相到底是什么？《弑亲》叙事精巧，悬念引人入胜，不可不读。