"As dawn breaks over the city of Florence on New Year’s Day 1557, Jacopo da Pontormo is discovered lying on the floor of a church, stabbed through the heart. Above him are the frescoes he labored over for more than a decade--masterpieces all, rivaling the works of Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel. When guards search his quarters, they find an obscene painting of Venus and Cupid--with the face of the goddess replaced by that of Maria de’ Medici, the Duke of Florence’s oldest daughter. The city erupts in chaos. Who could have committed these crimes? Giorgio Vasari, the great art historian, is picked to lead the investigation. Letters start to fly back and forth--between Maria and her aunt Catherine de’ Medici, the queen of France; between Catherine and the scheming Piero Strozzi; and between Vasari and Michelangelo--carrying news of political plots and speculations about the identity of Pontormo’s killer. The truth, when it comes to light, is as shocking as the brutal murder itself." --Provided by publisher.