Author Tony Morelli finished his book talk at the central library auditorium in Palermo, Sicily. He had noticed a man in the audience who looked familiar, but couldn't place him. Afterward, he recognizes the man as a childhood friend, Todd Kenilworth. He confronts the man, who knocks him out and flees. Later, Tony researches the name at the hotel computer and finds that Todd Kenilworth, a Chicago attorney, had committed suicide while on a trip to Italy with his sister and niece. Tony returns home to Chicago and continues his search for the truth about Todd Kenilworth, which puts Pauline, a blues singer and his live-in girlfriend, in a car bombing intended for him. His quest to avenge Pauline's fate and to find Todd Kenilworth draws him back to Italy. The mission leads him and the reader throughout a picturesque tour of Italy spiked with romance, espionage, peril, death, and a spine-tingling conclusion.