Northern Italy, 1978: Commissario Piero Trotti, trusted senior police investigator in an anonymous provincial city off the River Po, has two difficult cases to solve. An unidentified, dismembered body has been found in the river, and it's up to Trotti to figure out who the murder victim is. Meanwhile, an estranged friend approaches Trotti with a desperate personal plea: his six-year-old daughter, Trotti's own goddaughter, has been kidnapped. Williams' first novel is a gripping, literary thriller with vividly drawn characters and lush descriptions.