A young woman returns from holiday to find her elderly neighbour dead on the floor. A heart attack seems the likely cause but Commissario Brunetti is not so sure & decides to take a closer look. Soon he discovers that she was part of an organization that cares for abused women & that her apartment was a safe-house. Convinced that this is the lead he has been looking for Brunetti begins his search for answers. But as he sets out to discover the truth behind her death he is drawn into a decades-old story of lies & deceit that has blighted love & ruined lives
- & has claimed this innocent woman as its newest victim. Brunetti's investigation takes him deep into the dark heart of his beloved Venice.