Light in the Shadows: A Novel - Tapa dura

The discovery of a lost Caravaggio painting yields centuries of deadly secrets in this pulse-pounding novel of historical intrigue and modern-day suspense...

In seventeenth-century Rome, an arrogant and reckless artist named Caravaggio drinks and brawls his way through his violent, insatiable life, all while painting some of the world’s greatest religious works of art. But it is his bitter feud with Giovanni Roero, a brutal knight in the Maltese Order of St. John, that is his fatal error.

Now, in the village of Monte Piccolo, a priest claims to have discovered a lost painting by the famed artist in the storage room of an orphanage. Retired professor A. R. Richman believes it’s a delusional dream. But Lucia, a visiting art student, convinces him otherwise and recruits her best friend, Moto, to join in the quest. They think The Judas Kiss is worth investigating. But tracing its provenance back four hundred years could prove to be just as treacherous as the master’s final days.

Richman, Lucia, and Moto begin chasing the mystery, uncovering a blood feud hidden for years that has now spilled into the twenty-first century. As they follow where it leads—down a trail of murder, betrayal, and vengeance—they find a secret history that someone will kill to keep buried.

Linda Lafferty is the author of The Bloodletter's Daughter, House of Bathory, The Girl Who Fought Napoleon, and the Colorado Book Award winners The Drowning Guard and The Shepherdess of Siena. She holds a doctorate in bilingual special education and taught in Spain for three years. She is an avid equestrian and horse lover.

Andy Stone worked for thirty-five years for the Aspen Times as a reporter, editor, award-winning columnist, and eventually, the publisher of the newspaper. He is the author of the novels Song of the Kingdom and Aspen Drift.

Linda Lafferty and Andy Stone had their first date on the ski slopes of Aspen, Colorado. They were married in 1986 and still live in the Roaring Fork Valley.