Il Commissario Ricciardi

Naples, March 1931, while a particularly harsh winter holds the city tight in a grip of ice, a murder shakes public opinion for the ferocity with which the crime is perpetrated and for the notoriety of the dead man. The great tenor Arnaldo Vezzi, a world-famous artist and friend of Mussolini, is found dead in his dressing room at the Teatro San Carlo, before the performance of I Pagliacci. Commissioner Luigi Alfredo Ricciardi is called to solve the case, and on that occasion he will meet the tenor's widow: Livia Lucani. It will be the beginning of a long and tormented story.

Carmela Calise is a loan shark and fortune teller, with the power to reverse the future; when she is found dead, Ricciardi is called in to investigate her case; his investigation leads to the first meeting between him and Enrica.

Hot. Torrid, merciless, atrocious. In the streets, in the alleys, in the dark rooms of the palaces. Hot. To hate those you love, because they dare to look elsewhere, because they want freedom. Hot. Not to eat, not to sleep. While Ricciardi and Enrica finally seem to be getting closer, the Duchess of Camparino, a woman as beautiful as she is talked about in the city, is found dead. In the meantime, Livia returns and settles in Naples, determined to conquer Ricciardi's heart.

A rainy autumn has begun, Naples is under a blanket of clouds and fog. During the week of the Dead, the body of a child is found. His name is Matteo, Tettè for everyone. One of the many scugnizzi who live by their wits in the alleys of the city. At first glance, he seems to have starved to death, but Ricciardi will soon discover that perhaps the death was caused by poisoning. The discovery of the truth will put Ricciardi in serious danger of life and will force Enrica to make a vow.

A new spring is looming, there is one week left until Easter in Naples in 1932. At Paradiso, an exclusive brothel in the central Via Chiaia, Vipera, the most famous prostitute, is found dead, suffocated with a pillow. The last client claims to have left her alive, the next to have found her already dead. Who killed her and why? Now more than ever, Ricciardi finds himself torn between Enrica and Livia, to whom he now also has a debt of gratitude: it is his friend Modo, who has gotten into serious trouble with the fascists of the city.

Immersed in the scorching heat of July and in preparations for the feast of the Madonna del Carmine, the city is suspended between heaven and hell. When a well-known surgeon falls from the window of his office, Ricciardi and Maione begin an investigation that will take them to the heart of the most tenacious and shocking feelings and passions. Infidelity and betrayal seem inextricably linked to the rare joy of love. That very joy that will lead Ricciardi one step away from Enrica, only to make a heartbreaking discovery.