Sandro Cellini

Every August, Florence shimmers in the summer heat, but this year the heat wave is fiercer than usual and the city's inhabitants have fled to the cool of the hills and beaches of the surrounding countryside. So it is no surprise that amid the shrubbery of a normally busy roundabout, a corpse lies unnoticed, bloating in the humid air. Sandro Cellini, meanwhile, will not be joining the crowds of holidaymakers this year. The former policeman turned private detective has a case: a man who seems to have vanished into thin air, leaving his pregnant young wife alone in the city. Bank teller Roxana Delfino is also stuck in the city for the season with nothing to do but worry about her aging mother and puzzle over the disappearance of one of her regular clients. As all Florence sweats it out, Cellini attempts as best he can to grapple with his case and the complications it throws at him. And when the weather finally breaks, it brings with it a shocking revelation.

Sandro Cellini faces his demons...Sandro Cellini hasn't set foot in La Vipera, a derelict farmhouse just outside Florence that was once home to a free-living commune, for forty years - until the discovery of two bodies nearby leads him back there. At the start of his career, Cellini investigated an accusation that minors were being corrupted at La Vipera, but no charges were ever brought. Now, tasked with tracking down former members of the community, he has a chance to finally discover what really went on all those years ago. But in order to learn the true nature of the commune's mission, he must face his own traumatic memories. As he sifts through the lies, those closest to him are placed in danger. Only Cellini can unravel the final mystery of La Vipera, and so protect those he loves.