Julia is a young art expert in Madrid.  Her specialty is the restoration of paintings about to go up for auction.  But her latest project could also be her last.  A fifteenth-century masterpiece, the painting depicts a chess game between the Duke of Flanders and his knight, as a lady in black velvet sits in the background.  What makes this project different is the hidden inscription Julia discovers in the corner:  Quis Necavit Equitem.  Translation: Who killed the knight?  Breaking the silence of five centuries, Julia's hunt for a Renaissance murderer leads her into a modern-day game of sin, betrayal, and death--every move calculated with devilish precision.  And as the stakes rise, Julia finds herself exposed  and vulnerable to attack from everywhere.  Unsure whether she is a player or just a pawn, all she knows for certain is that her passion for art has made her an object of deadly obsession.  In a mystery of eloquence, wit, seduction, and suspense which marks the debut of a writer Europeans are already comparing to Umberto Eco, the solution is a tour de force of intrigue.