Venice: land of picturesque canals, Titian-haired beauties, and the whisper of secrets as deep and murky as the famous Grand Canal. When aristocrat Niccolo Ermolin is stabbed to death in the study of his own resplendent palazzo, even the resourceful Sigismondo wonders if Venice will sink beneath the weight of its Machiavellian backstabbing before he can solve the dastardly crime and escape with his life and purse intact. The list of suspects is, unfortunately, not short; Ermolin was connected to the notorious Council of Ten and widely rumored in court circles to keep a secret book of his transactions - shady and otherwise. Our detective, along with his more-faithful-than-clever sidekick, Benno, finds his life may just depend on his finding the right answers in a city with enough disguises to rival even Sigismondo himself.