During one night the house at sea and the villa of the spouses Carlo and Caterina Peritore are robbed; the prosperous couple had been asleep with gas, so that the thieves could calmly take possession of the objects in the house and the keys of the cottage. Montalbano realizes that the thieves had to know all the habits of the victims and easily managed to connect to this another theft just days ago, in the same way, by the Lojacono spouses. Investigating, it turns out that the two victims are acquaintances and part of a close circle of friends, who could therefore be all potential victims. The thieves do not seem to be local but, anyway, the excellent organization certainly needs a baseman, who is certainly also the head of the band and that, through an anonymous letter, launches a real challenge to the commissioner. In fact, the robberies continue. This time he was subjected to Angelica Cosulich, a manager from the local bank, of whom Montalbano remained entranced. In a moment of crisis with her Livia, a crisis due to the atrocious suspicion of a betrayal of her against him, the young woman brings to mind the futile infatuation of young for Angelica, the protagonist of the furious Orlando, by Ludovico Ariosto, and Montalbano, understood that the young woman reciprocates his interest, will face an inner crisis from which the winner will emerge with difficulty. The Commissioner and his colleagues draw up a list of possible future victims: while they are monitoring one of the suspicious houses, they leave the thieves to escape after a shoot-out. The circle of possible culprits narrows, and suspicions are concentrated around some friends belonging to this elite of wealthy people. In the meantime a corpse is found, and after this fact it is learned that the instigator of thefts decided to go and steal from his friends. The reason goes well beyond the act of taking possession of the stolen goods: the suspect and loan shark Pierrera is found deadly suicidal, and his killing proves to be connected to other facts. The investigations reveal that Angelica's parents had died many years earlier after failing to return a large sum of money and that the one who blackmailed them was Pierrera. Angelica and his cousin then, helped by some accomplices, have designed the series of thefts to cover their true intent, that of taking away from Pierrera the documentation relating to his activity as a loan shark and then to frame him. The woman, however, after regretting her gesture, will risk her life.
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