Rooted in a rich, historical past, this adventure finds young and accomplished art historian Michael Bennington approached at a New York jewelry auction by a pleasant enough couple, nobility actually, who wish to engage him in a curious assignment. He must track down the whereabouts of a priceless necklace the couple thought they owned but have discovered theirs is only a cut-glass fake. Michael accepts the assignment with heightened passion--his specialty is 19th century jewels--and he's off to Mexico City where the real necklace originated. From there, he traces the path of this artifact to various international locales including St. Petersburg, Paris, Los Angeles and New York and ends up in Brussels for a harrowing life-and-death finale. The quirky former owners of the necklace are all beyond belief but historically accurate nonetheless and their exotic and lurid pasts both astound and captivate the reader.