Killer's Wake

John Rossendale, 28th Earl of Stowey, is a 30-ish semi-rebel who has escaped his nasty, impoverished family by bumming around the world in his sailboat Sunflower . He returns to England in time to receive a maternal death-bed curse and then, before he can get away again, is embroiled in a search for the "Stowey Van Gogh." Stolen years ago (John was a suspect), the lost family heirloom is lusted after by a mega-rich tycoon.