It is a luminous spring day in Venice as Commissario Brunetti & Inspettore Vianello come to the rescue of Vianello's friend Marco Ribetti who has been arrested while protesting against chemical pollution of the Venetian lagoon only to be faced by the fury of Marco's father-in-law owner of a glass factory on the island of Murano. But clearly there is another victim who has uncovered the guilty secret of the polluting glass foundries of the island of Murano & whose body is found dead in front of the furnaces which burn at 1400 degrees night & day. The victim has left clues in a copy of Dante & Brunetti must descend into an inferno to discover who is burning the land & fouling the waters of the lagoon. A man is dead
- but will politics & expedience prevent the killer from striking again?