The murder of two clam fishermen off the island of Pellestrina, south of the Lido on the Venetian lagoon, draws Commissario Brunetti into the island's close-knit community, bound together by a code of loyalty & a suspicion of outsiders worthy of the Mafia.
When the Vice-Questore's secretary Signorina Elettra volunteers to visit the isl&, where she has relatives, Brunetti finds himself torn between his duty to solve the murders, concerns for Elettra's safety, & his not entirely straightforward feelings for her...