This 7th book in the Sharpe & Donovan series stars Oliver York. He saw his parents murdered and was kidnapped as an eight-year-old. He grew up to be a mythologist and thief. Wendell Sharpe had been on his trail since his second theft from an Amsterdam museum. But he began his career in art thievery by stealing paintings an a Celtic cross from a home in Declan's Cross.

Now his history in theft is known but for a number of reasons, including his usefulness to MI5, he hasn't been arrI lested or prosecuted. In fact, he's never admitted to being the thief Wendell Sharpe and the FBI hunted for so many years.

For all the 30-some years since his kidnapping, he's been looking for the two men who killed his parents and kidnapped him. Even so, he didn't expect to find one of them murdered at his home in the Cotswolds.

Henrietta Balfour was a neighbor of Oliver's since childhood. She was farmed off to her great aunt's whenever her parents wanted to do things without her which was most of the time. Henrietta became an expert gardener under her aunt's care but she also followed her favorite grandfather into working with MI5. She's left MI5 - a case of burn out - and is trying to establish herself as a garden designer. One of her first commissions is at Oliver's house which puts her right there when the body is discovered.

I enjoyed the story and especially liked that Oliver finds romance with Henrietta. He's been such an intriguing character through so many of the earlier books in the series. I liked the way the past was woven into this story and I liked that Oliver finally found out what happened when his parents died. ( )