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.

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!

In the end, Lara decides that Luca Manara isn't such a bad commissioner after all. She might even tell him that to his face... sooner or later.

Although Commissario Manara's has resolved the case, his unorthodox methods are unacceptable to his superior, who threatens to have him transferred to the hinterlands of Sardinia.

At this point the murderer is easily discovered and just as easily confesses. The evening of the murder gets revisited and all previous doubts vanish. But what's to become of the killer?

In the presence of Ginevra who has come to thank both Lara and Manara for saving her reputation, they look once again at the painting of Lorenzo. A detail gives them the key to finding the murderer!

Commissioner Manara and Inspector Rubino figure out who wrote the love letters and Lara conducts the appropriate interrogation.

An important new element in the investigation comes into play: some romantic letters found at the victim's house. Lara is comparing the handwriting to that of the note found next to his dead body.

With the information given by Ginevra, Luca and Lara go to the pharmacy to find out about recent sales of two drugs. When combined, the drugs are fatally poisonous. That same day the funeral takes place and the whole town is there. Manara takes advantage of this to look for new suspects.

Lara decides to question the medical examiner Ginevra, the last person to have seen the victim alive. Manara had a different idea about how to handle his witness.

Sardi wants to comfort Toscani after he'd been punched in the face by the bass drum player. Manara wonders where people go in the evening, and Lara, after seeing the Commissioner in a car talking to Ginevra, goes home and confides in her Aunt about why she can't stand him.

The rehearsal for Lorenzo's funeral gets interrupted by Manara and Toscani who want to question Scudieri, the bass drum player. Meanwhile, Lara is trying not to explode with anger about Manara's handling of Ginevra Rosmini.

Meet the characters from The Barber of Seville, an opera by Gioacchino Rossini that was first performed in 1816: brought to you by Anna and Marika.

Manara questions the woman who painted the picture of Lorenzo and gets some further information from the notary's wife, regarding the boat builder.

Lara's aunt Caterina goes to police headquarters to show Commissioner Manara a painting she found at a flea market, that could help with the investigation.