In this installment in the delightful, internationally acclaimed series Chief of Police Bruno works to connect the tangled threads of past and present. He nonetheless finds time, naturellement, to enjoy the wine, food, and beauty of the Perigord region.

When a woman’s body is found at the foot of a cliff near the idyllic French town of St. Denis, chief of police Bruno Courreges suspects a connection to the great ruin that stands above: a long-ago Knights Templar stronghold.

With the help of Amelie, a young newcomer to the Dordogne, Bruno learns that the dead woman was an archaeologist searching for a religious artifact of incredible importance. And her ties to Islamic terrorists-not to mention the return of an old flame of Bruno’s, who is assigned to work with him on the case-only heightens the pressure to unravel the centuries-old mystery.