The second Catrin Sayer mystery. A retired clergyman collapses in the Kelvingrove Museum in Glasgow, right in front of the painting by Salvador Dali called 'Christ of Saint John of the Cross'. It is thought to be a heart attack until the angina medication he took at the onset of the attack was discovered to be a placebo; it was totally ineffective. Meanwhile, a drug 'baron' in Glasgow searches out the services of a friend of his late father, a man with prior convictions for art forgery; he has a job for him.

Detective Constable Catrin Sayer is now nearly a year into her assignment with the Art Crime Unit at New Scotland Yard. The journey north to Glasgow on a new case is tied to both the death of the clergyman and a rumour of theft or fraud associated with paintings by a group of artists known as 'The Scottish Colourists'.