A stunning mystery set in the sexy world of art trafficking, when an archaeologist and an FBI agent find their work and lives entangled after the discovery of an antiquities-smuggling ring amid the ruins of Pompeii. When an old-looking painted slab of plaster is found unclaimed at JFK baggage wrapped carefully in a Louis Vuitton case, FBI agent Max O'Conner with the Special Art Crime Unit is sent to make the pick-up. Though his superiors initially dismiss the piece and the other small artifacts in the bag as imitation souvenirs, Max is convinced of the fresco fragment's authenticity, especially when his undercover persona receives a text about a possible fence for goods matching those in the case. Max takes it upon himself to pursue his lead, and the signs begin pointing to a large network of illicit antiquities being smuggled from Italy. From Brighton Beach to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and then on to the Louvre, Max doggedly follows the trail to Pompeii, Italy, and the ancient ruined city in the shadow of Mt. Vesuvius. Meanwhile, archaeologist Kristen Greene, burned out on New York City and desperately looking for a change, accepts a position with a team working among the ruins of Pompeii. She takes up residence in Hotel Vesuvio, a hive of archaeologists and scholars working at the ancient site, and finds herself enmeshed with two characters: Adina Knowles, a noted scholar with some eccentric and mystifying theories about ancient cults, and Luke, an otherworldly busboy living on the slopes of the volcano. It is at the Hotel Vesuvio that Kristen and Max are thrust together to unravel the origin of the stolen artworks. Luke begins leading them through a veritable labyrinth of mystical experiences and high-stakes danger through the fertile vineyards and vertiginous slopes of an active volcano, over the soaring cliffs of Capri, and through abandoned 18th-century tunnels. The unfolding web of smuggling reveals academics, collectors, local entrepreneurs, and even ancient gods on a quest for beauty and art.
