On a cold Venetian night shortly before Christmas, a street vendor is killed in a scuffle in Campo San Stefano. The dead man had been working as a vu cumpra, one of the many African immigrants purveying goods outside normal shop hours and without work permits. Commissario Brunetti's response is that of everybody involved: Why would anyone kill an illegal immigrant? Warned by Patta, his supervisor, to resist further involvement in the case, how far will Brunetti be able to penetrate the murky subculture of Venice's illegal community?
On a cold Venetian night shortly before Christmas, a street vendor is killed in a scuffle in Campo San Stefano. The dead man had been working as a vu cumpra, one of the many African immigrants purveying goods outside normal shop hours and without work permits. Commissario Brunetti's response is that of everybody involved: Why would anyone kill an illegal immigrant? Warned by Patta, his supervisor, to resist further involvement in the case, how far will Brunetti be able to penetrate the murky subculture of Venice's illegal community?