On a late October Sunday morning in Gravigna, Tuscany, Maresciallo Perillo is having breakfast with former NYPD homicide detective Nico Doyle when he is called back to the station in Greve. Hotel Bella Vista's young manager, Laura
Benati, is worried. Her eighty-year-old bartender, Cesare Costanzi, has been missing for three days.
It is unclear why anyone would want Cesare dead, but that doesn't stop the Gravigna grapevine from spreading rumors at lightning speed. With numerous suspects on his list, Perillo has no other choice but to turn to Nico once again for help with the investigation.