After a tryst at a local hotel with her lover, writer Sonia (Serena Grandi, Tinto Brass' MIRANDA) is brutally murdered. The prime suspect is her husband actor Peter (Fabio Testi) who has been having his own share of affairs. Then there's the other likely suspects, Sonia's sister Tania (Grandi again), young actress Milena (Anna Maria Petrova), Tania's daughter Anna, playwright Stefan (John Armstead, KREOLA), and his wife/Peter's lover Julia (Florinda Bolkan). Assistant detective Ivan Zanova (Peter Martignetti) is certainly not up to weaving through the complexity of their world and his infatuation with crippled, emotionally immature Anna is a little creepy. Zanova leans on his soon-to-retire mentor (who unfortunately does not get shot before he can help) but is quick to jump to obvious conclusions (and is seemingly naive to police corruption). The overcast Bulgarian setting is both novel and depressing but CRIME OF PASSION isn't a sterling example of the giallo sub-genre. Director Flavio Mogherini (art director of Mario Bava's DIABOLIK and Fellini's SATYRICON and director of THE FRENCH SEX MURDERS) has an eye for setting but seems completely uninterested in the story. Luigi Kuveiller's cinematography is attractive and lacks the sterile TV-movie slickness of some of his films around that time (including the thrillers BODY PUZZLE and CIRCLE OF FEAR) and has the muted tones of a seventies production (also enhanced by Gianni Ferrio's score and the seemingly deliberate production and costume design choices that neither scream 1970's nor 1990's). Martignetti's detective protagonist is unimpressive while seasoned giallo actors Testi and Bolkan are pushed to the sidelines until later in the film.