The plot is not the usual “who dunnit”, but rather an exploration into how human beings are subject evil as well as good, and why. Caravaggio's work was not created for galleries or for sale to wealthy but unknowledgeable collectors of art. It was a message, an expression of how he saw life, and how he interpreted the affect that the religious beliefs of the time had and still have on humanity's struggle to distinguish between right and wrong, including himself.

His paintings were violent and sexually explicit as well as spiritual, and this dichotomy of expression was both a blessing and a curse on the artist, who wanted his paintings to literally speak to the viewer. The painting was discovered at the scene of a murder and revealed to be an original, during an investigation into a murder or a series of murders in a house in which Caravaggio was know to have lived at one time. Forensic evidence and grueling research from old documents and books and letters exposed an ancient organization dedicated to the evil side of life, and traces of that group dwelling and active in their beliefs in the present.

Investigator Nic Costa worked closely with his convent Sister friend, and through their work together they each discovered that what Caravaggio expressed so explicitly in his art revealed to them, each in a different way, their own souls.

If you don't enjoy reading some very complicated history, and if you have no interest in the works of the maligned and disturbed artist, and if you have trouble distinguishing between a vast array of characters, you might not enjoy this novel as much as I did. It is interesting, educational, exciting, and beautifully written, and I enjoyed it very much.

Written by Litera Scripta