Commissioner Manara is back with a new episode, which opens, not only with the usual murder, this time in a library, but also with a care package from Manara's mother, full of Sicilian specialties such as melanzane sottolio or sott'olio, (eggplant in oil). Sottolio is a traditional and well-loved way of preserving many foods, and can be distinguished from sottaceto (in vinegar), or in salamoia (in water and salt). Of course, everyone at headquarters is more interested in the Sicilian pastries!

Murder in the library. The curator of the town library was found dead by his secretary, and the assistant librarian hasn't shown up for work. Some valuable correspondence is missing, and there are some suspicious shoe prints on the floor. Manara and his team have gotten busy trying to figure it all out.

Manara goes to see the mother of Fazi's missing assistant, Marcuccio. It turns out he's "different" but with a phenomenal capacity for numbers. He's also a big guy, with big feet! Meanwhile, Lara and Luca are called to their boss's office. He wants results, fast, and so he's called in an expert in Cultural Assets from Rome to work alongside them.

The arrival of Giulia Chiamparini, the expert in Cultural Heritage, makes quite a hit at headquarters!

Lara and Giulia have some catching up to do, but how candid are they being with each other? Do we detect a bit of jealousy? Meanwhile Commissioner Manara has to deal with both Romei, the chicken guy, and his buxom, brassy wife, who keeps trying to catch Luca's eye.

The police intercept a phone call between Marcuccio and his mother, but it's too short to trace. Marcuccio recites the first line of Leopardi's most famous poem, "L'infinito" [The Infinite] to his mother. Giulia spends the night at Lara's and they watch the movie of the famous party. The next day Lara has some interesting news for Manara, from both Giulia and from her aunt!

Amidst murder and insomnia, Manara is attempting to eat his croissant during the autopsy in the morgue. And Ginevra... well, she has an infallible solution to help him get back to normal.

Lara and Luca go to interrogate a suspect whose only alibi for the night of the murder depends on Marcuccio, who is still missing. Meanwhile, Giulia intercepts a cryptic phone call.

Marcuccio has gotten hungry, and so he's gone to see the only person he could trust, Lara's zia Caterina. But by the time anyone could come to help her, he'd disappeared again, leaving his jacket behind. Lara's dog, Brigadiere, gets a good whiff and goes off with Luca to look for Marcuccio. A storm has come up, making things more difficult.

After a fruitless search in the rain, Luca and Brigadiere head home, but all of a sudden the dog starts sniffing around a hunter's shack, and sure enough, Luca discovers Marcuccio hiding inside, but the big man is not talking. And if that weren't enough, Manara's boss continues to put pressure on him and his team to bring in the perpetrator.

Luca and Giulia are finally alone, in a car, at night, in a typical spot for lovers. Hmm...

In the eyes of Manara's boss, Giulia is the heroine, having recovered the letters, and Manara is a failure for having let the murderer escape from under his nose. Now Giulia's work is finished and she's just about ready to go back to Rome, but she still has some unfinished business... business she doesn't want Lara's help with.

Back at her aunt's house, Lara deals with Giulia when she comes back, and hashes things over with her aunt in the morning. Meanwhile Manara is once again moving his desk around, while discussing both the case and Giulia Chiamparani with Toscani, who's curious as to why Giulia disappeared so quickly.

Marcuccio is in the hospital, and as planned, zia Caterina goes to see him. But all he will come out with are lines from one of Leopardi's poems. Meanwhile Romei is anxious to have the letters he considers his own, but things aren't so simple.

Toscani isn't thrilled with organizing the birthday party for the guy who "stole" his job, and is complaining to his wife. She steers the conversation around to their love life. The party gets cut short because Luca has a flash of genius, and figures out the case based on what Toscani says in his toast. He leaves for the hospital with two detectives and barely has time to acknowledge Lara when she walks in late to the party.

Manara has it all figured out, and questions his suspect, who reconstructs the murder for him. Toscani, on the other hand, has ended up in the hospital, and becomes a hero in the eyes of the Questore, who never quite seems to appreciate Manara's efforts, and sees only his faults.

Everyone is happy that Marcuccio ended up safely at Caterina's house, and he's now ready to go home to his mother. But what about Luca's birthday? What about Lara? Tune in for the final part of this episode.