Franzicco Ragoczy di Santo-Germano is a successful merchant in Venice. His lavish lifestyle and rumored cache of magnificent jewels have attracted the wrong sort of attention, and without Santo-Germano's noble--and papal--connections, he might be imprisoned, his property confiscated. Also under surveillance is the vampire's mistress, the lovely and talented musician Pier-Ariana Salier.
Elsewhere, Ragoczy's publishing business is being investigated by the Inquisition. Erneste van Amsteljaxter, a writer whose intelligence Ragoczy finds attractive, is tarred with the brush of heresy....