When a body is found floating in a canal strangely disfigured & with multiple stab wounds Commissario Brunetti is called to investigate & is convinced he recognises the man from somewhere. However with no identification except for the distinctive shoes the man was wearing & no reports of people missing from the Venice area the case cannot progress. Brunetti soon realises why he remembers the dead man & asks Signorina Elettra if she can help him find footage of a farmers' protest the previous autumn. But what was his involvement with the protest & what does it have to do with his murder? Acting on the fragile lead Brunetti & Ispettore Vianello set out to uncover the man's identity. Their investigation eventually takes them to a slaughterhouse on the mainland where they discover the origin of the crime & the world of blackmail & corruption that surrounds it. Both a gripping case & a harrowing exploration of the dark side of Italy's meat industry Donna Leon's latest novel is a compelling addition to the Brunetti series.