Three separate groups converge on the beautiful Italian city of Vicenza:
two fellows from Oxford and their group of undergraduates; a
world-renowned American professor of architecture and his family; and a
young, wealthy couple with a penchant for extravagent displays of wealth
who keep to themselves and travel with bodyguards.
All three groups gather in the Teatro Olimpico for the American
professor's lecture. The next morning, one of the Oxford fellows is
found murdered on the stage of the theater, shot four times in the
chest, his feet bound together. Lord Francis Powerscourt of London is
called in to investigate. He soon discovers shocking secrets about
members of the audience that night, secrets that connect all three
groups. The American professor suddenly goes missing and is found three
days later, shot to death and dumped in a cesspit.
Trusting no one, Powerscourt investigates the murder in solitude. He
eventually learns the dangerous truth about the young wealthy couple,
one that leads back to both the Cosa Nostra, the violent New York
criminal organization, and the Sicilian Mafia."
