These excerpts detail an investigation led by Commissario Brunetti into a brutal assault on Dottoressa Brett Lynch, an American archaeologist, and the subsequent murder of Dottor Semenzato, a museum director, who was beaten with a marked brick. The narrative follows Brunetti as he gathers clues, interviewing Brett and her lover, the renowned opera singer Flavia Petrelli, which reveals that Brett was attacked to prevent a meeting with Semenzato about forged ceramics from a Chinese exhibition. The investigation leads to Signor La Capra, a collector of stolen and fake artifacts, and his son, Salvatore, who is implicated in both the assault and Semenzato’s murder; the tension culminates during a severe acqua alta flood when Brett is abducted by La Capra to see his collection, and Salvatore is killed. Ultimately, the files confirm La Capra and Semenzato’s involvement in an antiquities fraud ring, though La Capra manages to evade immediate justice.

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.