Archaeologist Martin Day returns home to Naxos from a filming job in the Peloponnese to find that the Naxos Literary Festival has begun. One of the visiting writers is renowned novelist Ricky Somerset whose husband, Ben Lear, is the son of a woman Day's widowed father once seemed about to marry. Day has something on his conscience and decides to talk to Ben, but before he can do so Ricky is killed. His body is burned in a fire at a ruined Venetian tower and it is Day who finds him. A small bronze horse is discovered nearby. Neither Ricky nor the ancient artefact should be anywhere near the tower. To the exasperation of Inspector Andreas Nomikos, Day takes matters into his own hands. The key might well lie in the past, which is his particular area of expertise.

In this third book in the Naxos Mysteries series, Martin Day is forced to sort out his private life as well as resolve the death of Ricky Somerset.