This is the 18th in the Brunetti detective series set in Venice. At a dinner party given by his parents-in-law, Comissario Brunetti meets Franca Marinello, the wife of a prosperous Venetian businessman. He's charmed by her love of Virgil and Cicero, but shocked by her appearance. A few days later, Brunetti is visited by Carabinieri Officer Guarino from the nearby city of Marghera. As part of a wider investigation into organised crime takeovers of businesses in the region, Guarino wants information about the owner of a trucking company who was found murdered in his office. He believes the man's death is connected to the illegal transportation of rubbish and waste materials. Even though is used to the traditional rivalry between the police and the Carabinieri, he is still puzzled by the younger man's paranoid behavior. Eventually Guarino agrees to email a photo of his suspect, but by the time the photograph arrives, he himself is dead. Was he killed because he got too close? And why is it that Franca Marinello has often been seen in company of the suspect, a vulgar man with Mafia connections and a violent past?
Another great novel in the series with the topical subject of the environment and the disposal of toxic waste at the heart of the crime.
