British art historian Jonathan Argyll has just sold a minor Titian to an American museum for a highly inflated price. But as he complacently awaits his check in the California sunshine, trouble erupts: the museum's billionaire owner is murdered, a dubious art dealer disappears, and a Bernini bust, apparently smuggled out of Italy, is missing. This calls for help from his friends General Bottando and Flavia di Stefano of the Italian National Art Theft Squad...especially when the killer's attention turns toward Argyll. Cleverly mixing murder with art, Iain Pears has written his strongest and most entertaining mystery to date.