The Deception #885752

The story opens with Rosa Auteri, an educated and sensitive woman, deeply anguished by the recent incarceration of her husband, Giacomo Auteri, who has been accused of a brutal murder and sentenced to life in prison. Rosa is tormented by a recurring dream that seems to be connected to a forgotten event from her youth: the unexpected visit of a young man who was once infatuated with her — Gastone Perrone — a shy suitor at the time, now a close family friend. 
Meanwhile, Gabriele D’Annunzio (portrayed in this fictionalized account as a prince and investigator with extraordinary intuition) undertakes the mission of uncovering the truth to save Giacomo. From the very start, he suspects Gastone Perrone — an ambiguous character who is ultimately revealed to be the true culprit: he took advantage of everyone's absence to kill his cousin Alberto and frame his friend out of jealousy and desire for Rosa. 
With wit and theatrical flair, D’Annunzio sets in motion a series of deductions and bluffs worthy of the finest detective fiction, ultimately driving the culprit to confess — a confession triggered by a staged discovery of the burned banknotes (the key evidence of the crime). 
The mystery concludes with the imminent release of Giacomo and the carnal union between D’Annunzio and Rosa Auteri — a union as contradictory as it is symbolic, marked by a moral debt and the charismatic force of the man who saved her.