This work is set in 1950s, Los Angeles. The City of Angels has become the city of the Angel of Death. Communist witch-hunts and insanely violent killings are terrorising the community. Three men are plunged into a malestrom of violence and deceit when their lives become inextricably linked as each one confronts his own personal darkness.
A lawyer who has spent time in prison with Duca is found drowned in one of the Milanese canals. Duca is contacted by a friend of the dead lawyer to perform surgery on a woman who after the operation confesses that although she is due to marry a wealthy butcher, is really in love with another man, the friend of the lawyer. Shortly afterwards, she is killed together with her lover. Duca discovers that the two events are linked and starts to unravel an arms and drugs trafficking business, centered in an understated trattoria, of which the two were part. "Excellent crime novel. . . Scerbanenco smartly and logically weaves all the various plot threads together."--Publishers Weekly*, Oct. 14, 2013 "Scerbanenco's dark, moody novels have much in common with the darkest of Scandinavian crime fiction. . . This forgotten noir classic from 1966 is finally available in translation. That's good news!"--Library Journal, Oct. 15, 2013