St. Agatha's Breast

JACKET NOTES:  A compelling novel of corruption and murder in a modern-day Italian monastery.
Standing in the shadows of the Vatican, the cavernous, decaying abbey of San Redempto, once a community 01 more than a hundred, now houses only about a dozen and has been forgotten by the Church. San Redempto s obscurity is threatened, however, when six of the seven age-blackened paintings of martyrs that have long hung in its hallways are stolen. The remaining painting--depicting the martyrdom of St. Agatha--identified by Reverend Brocard,Curtis, the monastery's archivist, as a long-lost treasure, most likely by Poussin. These events seem destined to bring the kind of attention to San Redempto that many, within the priory and without, have been working for years to avoid.
While Brocard sets about trying to uncover the provenance of the paintings and solve the riddle of the theft, others frantically work to protect their secrets, resorting to murder, with conspiracy upon conspiracy reaching deep into the Church itself. In the tradition of ‘The Club Dumas’ and ‘An Instance of the Fingerpost, ‘St. Agatha s Breast’ is a brilliantly written novel, rich in detail and insight, a story of corruption, sexuality, blood oranges, and murder that is enlightening and compelling.
(© St. Martin’s Press)