Paris, 1623. Secret letters. Lost jewels. A secret code. A Queen and a court painter. Camogli, Italy, 2010. Ann Carrington, a history teacher from the US, is on holiday. She has arranged a meeting with a Professor Scopetta to show him some of Maria de Medici's unpublished letters and reveal a secret, but things get complicated when she discovers the professor has been murdered. Who could be behind this murder? What hidden interests are at work behind the research Professor Scopetta was involved in? Can Ann Carrington continue the investigation and decipher the code that Rubens used to communicate with Maria de Medici? Lorenzo de’ Médici captivates the reader with this novel, full of fascinating historical details and intriguing personalities, telling the tale of one of the least well-known episodes in the history of his illustrious ancestors.