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In 1906, an Egyptologist uncovered a map carved in stone inside an ancient temple. Convinced that it pointed to a lost city of gold somewhere deep in the desert, he set out on another expedition the following year. He was never seen again. In present day Yale, a professor is brutally murdered on the university campus, and a mysterious artefact is stolen from its vaults.

Rick Montoya, eager to experience more of his Italian mother's culture, heads to Rome to start his own translation business. He's armed with curiosity and an appetite for local food and wine. Rick's maternal uncle is a Roman cop with one eye to his nephew's welfare and another to how Rick might be useful, perhaps widen his career choices. So Commissario Piero Fontana pulls Rick into an investigation: the murder of Count Umberto Zimbardi.

Translator Rick Montoya is looking forward to a quiet weekend away with his girlfriend, Betta, an art fraud investigator for the Italian Culture Ministry. Their destination: the beautiful village of Urbino, home to Renaissance masters Rafael and the lesser-known Piero della Francesca. While Betta does have official business to attend to—namely, collecting a priceless Piero drawing from a wealthy Spanish collector on the ministry's behalf—she asks Rick to join her "in case she needs an interpreter," but with other, less-official intentions in mind.