London, 1379. On a late August evening, a corpse is found in Lombard Street, the Italian bankers’ road. The solution of the case leads us towards one of the crucial turning points that marked the birth of capitalism.

On a Friday night at the end of August 1379, the body of a merchant lay lifeless in Lombard Street, the street of the Lombards, or rather of the Italians who had set up their English trading posts in London. On the surface, this murder has all the earmarks of a simple story like many others: a drunken brawl that happened by chance and ended in the worst possible way. This is the version believed by the coroner, Nicholas Dymcock. It is also believed by the sheriffs, the men who assist him in the investigation and, above all, by the whole town. It all seems to fit together, a street murder perhaps linked to the antipathy that Italians have aroused in the English capital. All cleared up? Maybe. But what if there is another truth hidden in the darkest of backstories? As in a detective story between Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie, Amedeo Feniello retraces a true story that sheds light on the beginnings of English capitalism.