A world-renowned art collector has offered a challenge to Inspector Jack Oxby of New Scotland Yard's Art and Antiquities Squad. Legend has it that Grigori Rasputin commissioned a fabulous Fabergé imperial egg as a gift for the Tsarina Alexandra, but it mysteriously vanished on the night the mad monk was assassinated. Now Oxby has been charged with finding the missing treasure—a hunt that carries the intrepid investigator from London to New York and on to St. Petersburg. But there are some great mysteries that may be too perilous to explore—as Oxby soon discovers that the magnificent Russian objet d'art has a history of scandal, betrayal, and murder surrounding it . . . and a dark violence that's being carried over into the present day.