Simeon Calafifi, an independent bookseller with an international reputation, has moved from London to the Isle of Wight to improve his quality of life. One evening after work he is found dead at his desk, brutally stabbed through the heart from behind without a struggle. His safe is open and empty; missing is some money and two valuable religious scriptures, both of great rarity. One is an authentic Lithuanian Talmud, bought by Calafifi on behalf of a university in Israel; the other is the original Book of Mormon.Detective Chief Inspector Bruno Peach of the Island's Murder Squad is challenged to identify the motive for this grisly murder. The missing volumes are too valuable to sell on the open market, and may have been stolen to order. No record of a visitor to the victim's shop after hours can be traced. Clues on the Island lead nowhere, so Bruno and his colleague Detective Sergeant Andy Bowen widen their search for the precious books from Ryde to Bournemouth, Chichester, East Grinstead, Hampstead and as far as Lithuania. Will the clues lead them to whoever killed the bookseller before they strike again, or will the murder remain forever a closed book?