Death and Restoration

Clever and witty art history-mystery featuring scholar and sleuth Jonathon Argyll, from the author of the bestselling masterpiece ‘An Instance of the Fingerpost’.

A tip-off without any names and a theft with no obvious motive – these are the apparently innocuous matters currently in the hands of Flavia di Stefano of Rome's Art Theft Squad. Flavia is able to disturb the looters of the monastery in San Giovanni but not catch them. And it's a good thing that nothing valuable was stolen because neither she nor art dealer Jonathan Argyll have a clue who the culprits were.

Maybe the truth lies with the item they did get away with – not the disputed Caravaggio the monastery is known for, but a curious icon of the Madonna that is said to have strange powers. Such claims are pure folklore, surely… but then a connection is made to a French dealer found floating in the Tiber a few days later and suddenly things don't seem so frivolous. Perhaps the icon was what the thieves wanted – and is it possible that its powers are miraculous enough to kill for?