In this Latest Venice-set Mystery, a Grieving Brunetti Must Discover the Identity of a Drowned Child. When a friend of Commissario Brunetti's brother, a priest recently returned from years of missionary work, calls with a request, Brunetti suspects the man's motives. A new, American-style Protestant sect has begun to meet in the city, and it's possible the priest is merely apprehensive of the competition. But the preacher could also be fleecing his growing flock, so Brunetti and Paola, along with Inspector Vianello and his wife, go undercover.

But the investigation has to be put aside when, one cold and rainy morning, a body is found floating in a canal. It is a child, a gypsy girl. He has to inform the distrustful parents, encamped on the mainland, and soon finds himself haunted by the crime -- and the girl.