"Deliciously literate" ( ) and filled with "articulate characters and erudite art commentary" ( ), this acclaimed series of novels by combines art and history, literature and mystery fiction, with the same passion for detail he displayed in his bestseller . In , the first book in the series, we are introduced to Jonathan Argyll, an enthusiastic young art scholar from England who has followed his suspicions about a long-lost Raphael painting to a small church in Rome. Not only is the painting in question gone from the site, it has been swiftly purchased, restored, auctioned, and installed in Rome's National Museum. But when the recovered Raphael is just as swiftly destroyed in a fire, Argyll begins to suspect its authenticity…and the innocence of every person in its path.