Undeterred by his previous disasters, Falco gives a poetry reading: an illustrious audience, a spectacular locale - and a tedious patron of the arts who subsequently becomes the Body in the Library. Brought in by Petronius, Falco tangles with unscrupulous bankers, publishers and authors (actual and would-be), despising all of them and trusting none. Once again the vigiles watch and wait for him to fail.
Meanwhile, Pa is in trouble, Ma is the subject of unseemly gossip, Maia is restless, the dog is pregnant, Gloccus and Cotta have yet to finish their bath-house contract, and Anacrites is hovering dangerously, trying to move in on the family in several worrying ways. As the enforcers gather to encourage suicides and the writers' group twitters hopelessly in the Temple of Minerva, the summer heat rises while Rome echoes to the sound of commercial institutions crashing and needy authors being dropped after failing to meet deadlines. The safest ploy is to stay at home reading a good book. But are there any to be had, when heartless commercialism governs editorial decisions, and anyway the most promising scrolls are covered with blood?
Who ate the flan? Where is the other evidence? And will Falco be able to assemble all the suspects for a showdown in the Greek Library, then force the killer to come clean so he wins a confession bonus from the penny-pinching vigiles?