St. Agatha's Breast

292 pp. Author's first novel. "For the monks of San Redempto, a decaying monastery in Rome, the rewards of embezzlement and the indulgence of their carnal appetites are distraction enough to prevent them from noticing that someone has been plundering the monastery of its treasure. But when archivist Brocard Curtis identifies the artist of the one remaining painting as 17th-century master Nicolas Poussin, they find themselves under close and unwelcome scrutiny. Ambitiously offbeat and graphically startling, St. Agatha's Breast is a brilliant mystery of corruption, sexuality, and murder."