A game of blackmail and betrayal is played among the backstreets and canals of Venice.... 

Carnevale is in full swing, the streets and waterways of Venice are crowded with masked revellers and Nathan Sutherland's birthday is about to be ruined. 

A night at the opera at La Fenice is always a memorable experience - and this time it will be so for all the wrong reasons as the curtain call is interrupted by a fatal stabbing. But why is the dead man carrying one of Nathan's business cards in his wallet?

The mystery of the murdered stranger takes Nathan on the trail of a lost opera by Monteverdi. But what begins as a harmless treasure hunt leads to ruthless criminals asking the highest of prices for the lost score...and then a second body is found in the sanctuary of Venice's English church.

The quest for the lost manuscript will bring Nathan back to the stage of La Fenice, where a final confrontation has deadly consequences....