"When you read this, I'll be dead ... " These are the troubling words Serena Charter's grandmother has written on a note accompanying four pages of a centuries-old illuminated manuscript delivered after the old woman's passing. Seeking clues to the mystery laid out before her, Serena turns to Erik North, a reclusive manuscript appraiser with a passion for the past

Lacey Quinn adored her grandfather. Although he never achieved artistic fame, his paintings inspired her to become an artist. Now, several years after his death, she takes a few of his canvases to an expert for appraisal. When they are identified as the work of an acclaimed landscape painter, Lacey is plunged into doubt. Was her grandfather a forger--or a even a murderer?