While on a study holiday in Italy, researching the mysterious last paintings of Lorenzo Gagliardi, Jessica Matthews is advised to search out Noah Glassman, a visiting lecturer at the local university, for help. To her frustration, she finds him both abrasive and attractive. Events take a sinister turn when Noah's office is vandalised - and then a Gagliardi painting is damaged in a break-in at an exhibition. Who could have a motive for the crimes - and what secrets are waiting to be discovered within the ancient monastic foundations of the university?