Berlin, 1950. The funeral of a legendary diva has thrown post-war Germany into mourning. Lili Schneider, worshipped by millions, has been brought home for burial after a fire in London. But death is not always the end. Manhattan, 1993. Television journalist Stephanie Merlin is devastated to learn of her grandfather's suicide. She knew he had been working on Lili's biography, but discovers he was on the trail of something much bigger; something so sinister people are prepared to kill to keep the secret safe. Among the first victims: Stephanie herself. But death is not always the end. In contemporary Europe, another determined woman, Monica Williams resolves to finish what Stephanie began- whatever the dangers involved. And so begins an obsessive search for the truth that leads her from the great operatic shrines of Europe to a luxury yacht in the Mediterranean. Here she meets a mysterious billionaire, his equally reclusive mistress- and stumbles upon a truth so monstrous it is almost unbelievable...