When a local politician is found dead in his car, half naked, in a seedy
neighborhood known for prostitution and drug trafficking, it's assumed that he
died of natural causes in the middle of a sexual escapade. Hoping to avoid an
embarrassing situation, Montalbano's superiors expect him to close the case
quickly. But the inspector senses that not all is as it seems and determinedly
launches a full investigation. While pursuing the case, Montalbano encounters a
number of bizarre and comical characters, from an elderly schoolteacher driven
mad by his 80-year-old wife's cheating to a former classmate who's now an
intellectual pimp. The inspector is drawn into the shadowy world of Sicilian
politics as he discovers affiliations made between bureaucratic adversaries,
meets with promiscuous beauties, and finds corruption that might even reach into
the Church. He takes it all with the accepting attitude that one needs to
survive in an often bleak and impoverished part of the world.