Gold, frankincense and dust

Parma. A multiple pile-up occurs on the autostrada into the city.

A truck transporting cattle skids off the road. Dozens of cows and bulls go on the rampage, injured and crazed.

In the chaos, the burned body of a young woman is found at the side of the road.

Her death has no apparent link to the carnage. Commissario Soneri is assigned the case. It is a welcome distraction: his mercurial lover Angela has decided to pursue other options, leaving him even more morose than usual.

The dead woman is identified as Nina Iliescu, a Romanian immigrant whose beauty had enchanted a string of wealthy lovers.

Temptress, muse, angel - she was all things to all men.

Her murder conceals a crime and a sacrilege, and even in death she has a surprise waiting for Soneri.