When a body is discovered inside a large chest that's about to go under the hammer at the Falco family auction house, Albia throws herself into the investigation.

For one thing, it'd be nice to beat her adoptive father at his own game. For another, it'll give her yet another chance to work with Manlius Faustus, the man she just can't quite get enough of. But when Faustus then invites her to get involved in the Roman elections, Albia discovers links between the politician they're working for and the murder she's investigating. And those links implicate none other than Faustus.