To begin with, the book is a mystery. Mystery about the author, mystery about the publishing house.

Until, wonders of Google, I found in a page that can no longer be fully accessed, that the author is a woman, Sharon, and this is her first novel. Plus she has also completed three marathons.

And this is what Amazon has to say about the book's author: "S.L. Zammit, a fresh and intrinsically authentic writer, puts pen to paper to masterfully create a realistic dark tale ingrained in history and culture. Her settings are defined by her upbringing and her travels around the world, encapsulating the truest details of each and every destination in her works.

"Zammit was raised in Malta, but has lived in San Diego, California, for the past 15 years. She has degrees in both pharmacy and business, but her true passion is to meld her own worldwide cultural experiences with her unique fictitious accounts of the dark and magical realm.

"When she isn't travelling or reading, Zammit is off sampling Cabernets, cooking delicious foods and keeping up with the latest fashion trends."

The cover shows a woman, in a strapless dress, going up to a red palace door that we are meant to think is Mdina.

This thriller follows the exploits of the Marquis Andras Valletta, a curiously appealing collector with an extraordinary intensity; Graziella, the assistant, who receives payment in both natural and unnatural ways and Aurora, an ambitious lawyer and Graziella's best friend, whose intentions are shrouded in mystery.

The scene is set in a historic palazzo in Mdina and in an old house in the Victoria casbah, apart from a mystery house in Paris' red light district, Pigalle and Rome's Trastevere.

The scene is quite contemporary and would be well recognised by Maltese readers, but it also echoes past history with references to Grand Master de Valette's lovechild, Isabella, murdered by her husband soon after their wedding.

As the secondary title indicates, the book tentatively touches upon philosophy but readers are not to worry excessively about this as the book functions very well as a dark fantasy.