When the corpse of the shady industrialist who owns the local football team is found both shot and stabbed with a Parmesan knife, Italian police inspector Aurelio Zen is called to Bologna to oversee the investigation Recovering slowly from surgery, Zen is only too happy to take on what at first appears to be a routine and relatively undemanding assignment But soon a world-famous university professor is shot with the same gun, immediately after publicly humiliating Italy's leading celebrity television chef - the case spins out of control and Zen is in no condition to rise to the challenge