A nine year old boy is found raped and murdered at the bottom of a well near a beach resort in southern Italy. A Senegalese itinerant peddler is accused in what looks like a hopeless case taken on by Guido Guerrieri, counsel for the defence. Faced with small-town racism fuelled by recent immigration from Africa, Guido attempts to exploit the esoteric workings of the Italian courts. More than a perfectly paced legal thriller, this is a relentless suspense novel that goes way beyond the genre.