Guido Brunetti is urged by his father-in-law to investigate, & preferably intervene in, the seemingly innocent plan of the elderly Gonzalo Rodriguez de Tejeda to adopt a much younger man as his son. And yet, what seems innocent on the Venetian surface can cause tsunamis below. Gonzalo unexpectedly drops dead on the street, & one of his friends who just arrived in Venice for the memorial service is strangled in her hotel room. Brunetti untangles the long-hidden mystery that has led to murder..