In this, the second crime novel to feature Mother Mary Agnes of the Convent of the Bleeding Heart and Detective Inspector Frank Childers, the relationships and brewing tensions among the poets and artists of Glasgow's 'Ancient Society of Scriveners and Limners' find a new stage in the beautiful resorts around Lake Garda. Mother Agnes joins the Club's summer trip with the young art historian, the beautiful Sister Mary of the Angels. Angel, as she is known, is just one of the new characters introduced as a complicated web of murder and intrigue is revealed, amid amorous affairs both sacred and profane. A visit to the opera 'Norma' at the Arena di Verona precipitates the murderous climax, changing the lives of everyone connected to the club. The postcards from Garda themselves reveal the identity of the murderer, and point to the one remaining victim.