When art dealer Jonathon Argyll agreed to transport the Death of Socrates from a gallery in Paris to its new owner in Rome, he had no idea that such a worthless, nondescript painting would cause such a stir. First, someone tries to steal it from him in a train station. Then the man he's delivering it to decides he doesn't want it - and is brutally murdered a few hours later. Now Argyll is stuck with a painting that only the most tasteless collector could love.... and he finds himself right in the middle of a murder investigation. With the bodies piling up, he must investigate the dark secrets in the painting's past - before someone with truly horrible taste decides to put him out of the picture for good....

The monastery of San Giovanni has few treasures - only a painting doubtfully attributed to Caravaggio. So Flavia di Stefano of Rome's Art Squad is surprised to receive a tip-off that a raid is being planned on the building. When the raid takes place, the thieves are disturbed and snatch the wrong painting, a curious icon of the Madonna, remarkable only for the affection in which it is held by the local population. Or is this what they wanted all along?