In this 32nd novel in the series, Guido Brunetti and his wife Paola are up late one November evening when a call from his colleague Ispettore Vianello comes in: a hand has been found in one of Venice's canals, and the rest of the body soon follows—an undocumented Sri Lankan immigrant. As no official record of his presence in Venice exists, Brunetti must rely on gossip and the memories of people who knew him; curiously, he had been living on the grounds of a palazzo owned by a university professor. Brunetti discovers links to the man's interest in Buddhism, the revolutionary Tamil Tigers, and the last crop of Italian political terrorists in the 1980s—as well as to his own idealistic youth.

"Donna Leon provides another delectable slice of the thoughtful policeman's life at work and at home … as witty and wise as anything Leon has written. To read her is to restore the soul."—Times (London)