General Bottando of Romes Art Theft Squad believes that a lone criminal masterminddubbed Giottohas been stealing priceless Renaissance art for over thirty years. But his theoryprompted by a letter from an embittered, dying old womanis scorned by archrival Corrado Argan, a bureaucrat more interested in politics than policing.
Bottandos right hand, the beautiful Flavia di Stefano, quickly locates a possible culpritbut hes in England. Since the conniving Argan considers even a trip across town an unnecessary expense for Bottandos squad, Flavia must rely on her fianc, Jonathan Argyll. In England on business, he finds the suspect suspiciously dead. Thats a pityespecially for Jonathan. Were he not on the sceneraving about art thefts and coincidencesthe police may have ruled that the deceased had a few too many and tripped on a loose stair. Now, Jonathans passport has been lifted until Her Majestys magistrate is satisfied that he has told all he knows
