Description:

A dead man. A stolen artifact. As something of an expert on the medieval
period, archaeologist Annja Creed jumps at the invitation from the Museum of Cadiz to
assess its acquisition of Egyptian coins. Andalucia, Spain, is a region rich in Moorish
and Roman ruins, and this invite gives Annja the chance to join a dig across the Bay of
Cadiz. There she unearths a bronze bull statue that makes the entire trip worth every
minute to her. Until the day after her discovery, when she sees the same artifact in the
hotel room down the hall from hers, in the possession of a Spaniard killed by the
estocada, the final sword thrust used by bullfighters to bring down the bull. Whoever
killed the man in the hotel room had left clear signs of having taken something. And yet
the bronze bull remained. What was so valuable the murderer ignored a priceless
artifact? With few leads and a growing body count, Annja's investigation takes her
through the colorful world of flamenco and bullfighting to a renowned matador and an
illegal - and deadly - collection of Visigoth votive crowns.