Archaeologist Martin Day returns to Naxos after filming in the Peloponnese. The Naxos Literary Festival has begun, and the renowned novelist Ricky Somerset is attending it. His husband, Ben Lear, is with him. Many years ago, when Day was still hurting from his mother’s early death, his widowed father had a relationship with Ben’s mother and the two teenagers were thrown together. Day needs to clear something from his conscience by talking to Ben, and this would seem the perfect opportunity. It becomes impossible when Ricky is found murdered and Day is the one who finds him.
Ricky’s body is lying in the same place as something else which should not be there: a small bronze figurine of great antiquity, thousands of years older than the ruined Venetian tower where it was found. Day can see no reason why either Ricky or the figurine should have been anywhere near the crumbling Di Quercia Tower. Both as a friend of Ben and as an archaeologist, Day needs to understand what has happened.
To make things more complicated, he has become the object of an attractive woman's attention. The time may have arrived for him to sort out his personal life as well as everything else that is happening.
