While Catania is enveloped in a rain of ashes from Etna, a woman's body now mummified by time is found in the abandoned wing of a stately villa on the slopes of the volcano. The deputy commissioner Giovanna Guarrasi, known as Vanina, a thirty-nine year old from Palermo transferred to the Catania Mobile office is in charge of the case. The house has been practically abandoned since 1959, only Alfio Burrano, nephew of the old owner, occasionally occupies a few rooms. Tracing the identity of the corpse is complicated, and to do so Vanina will need the help of retired Commissioner Biagio Patanè. The memories of the old policeman will force her to investigate her past, leading her to the place where the whole story began: a renowned 1950s
brothel known as "il Valentino". Extricating himself from the cobwebs of time, the assistant commissioner will reveal a story of greed and resentment that everyone believed she was now buried forever, and which instead will drag a streak of blood with it to the present day.
