with ancient rites practiced by the Etruscans 3,000 years ago to propitiate their gods. Inspector Giuranna and two of his detectives, Vitanza and Minelli, begin an immediate investigation; the only clue at the scene of the crime is a pair of very special dancing slippers which seem to have been left there deliberately.

Anyone could be guilty of the horrendous crime: perhaps Jason during an alcoholic "blackout"; or Stephan; or Myra; or Otello, the greedy, unscrupulous guard at the Etruscan museum who's always involved in some kind of shady deal to make an easy buck.

The investigation is plodding along when unexpectedly, the body of Giselle, Igor's young fiance is discovered in the riding stable at Nikos' villa. Igor is also found with her, almost at death's door himself. He is rushed to a hospital, where doctors say he will recover. Inspector Giuranna, meanwhile, has found several strange similarities and coincidences between Giselle's death and that of the young couple in the tomb.

Pursuing his investigation, the inspector uncovers Jason's troubled past, discovering, among other things, that he spent some time in a clinic for alcoholics and also that he and Myra had once been lovers. Circumstantial evidence continues pointing at Jason. Also, Otello who has witnessed a secret meeting between Jason and Myra in a lonely, deserted area of the necropolis, is attempting to blackmail Jason by threatening to tell Nikos.

Another very interesting person who lives in Spoleto is Leni (Nadja Tiller), a handsome woman who is forced to wear wigs to hide the horrible burns on her bare scalp. Many years earlier, it is revealed, Nikos, then her husband, had surprised her in her dressing room making love to a male ballet dancer and had shoved her into an electric heater. Her own magnificent hair had caught fire and burned off completely.

Now, a third crime is committed. Otello and his pretty young wife, Velia, suffer the same fate of the other three victims of the mysterious killer. Again, a pair of the same dancing slippers are left at the scene.

While Giuranna is interrogating Jason, upon whom so much suspicion has fallen, Nikos dies mysteriously, perhaps a victim of the killer, perhaps a suicide.

Igor goes to his father's dressing room at the Teatro Caio Melisso in Spoleto where Nikos was to have conducted his concert, to pack a suitcase with his dead father's personal effects. Myra is with him. Igor tells her his father had killed himself to protect someone he loved very dearly, and approaches her menacingly.

The key to the mystery is close at hand. The final solution, unpredictable but logical, comes only after the mad assassin unsuccessfully attempts to eliminate another victim .. . .