Murray Whelan, political adviser to the newly appointed minister of culture, is hanging on to his job by his toenails after the most recent ministerial shakeup. His learning curve is forced quickly upward when, on his first day, the disgruntled young artist Marcus Taylor is found dead, drowned in the ornamental moat outside the National Art Gallery. A born detective despite himself, Murray digs, and the deeper he goes, the more puzzling the mystery becomes. Who is this other painter, Victor Szabo, unknown in his lifetime and now the darling of the art world, his paintings fetching crazy prices? And what about art maven Lloyd Eastlake, who seems like the chess master moving his art-world pieces...but toward what sinister end?