Fifteenth-century Venice is a dangerous time to be alive. A permanent winter has rolled in over the canals and bodies keep washing up on the banks of the city. Each victim has been skinned. In the present day, a famous portrait by Titian has been discovered. Its subject: the Fifteenth-century suspected murderer Angelico Vespucci, known as The Skin Hunter. Leading New York dealer, Triumph Jones, encourages the rumor that "when the portrait arises, so will the man." And when flayed bodies start turning up in Tokyo, London and Venice, it begins to look like more than just a superstition. Previously a location finder for the film industry, Nino Bergstrom has just recovered from a serious illness. As a favor to the friend who helped him, the dealer, Gasser Reni, he investigates the murder and flaying of Seraphina Morgan. In Venice he comes across Seraphinaâ??s louche husband and the flamboyant Johnny Ravenscourt, moving onto Tokyo where he encounters the Japanese dealer of the macabre, Jobo Kido. As the dealers vie to get their hands on the Titian portrait--some for its beauty, others for its notoriety as being the first portrait of a serial killer--each becomes a suspect. And then Nino makes the connection between the Fifteenth century murderer and his Twenty-first-century imitator. Each of the contemporary century victims had something in common with their Fifteenth-century counterpart. Further investigations lead Nino deeper into the depraved world of Angelico Vespucci, the original Skin Hunter. Then, after the deaths and mutilation of three women--on the anniversaries of Vespucciâ??s crimes â?? Nino realizes that the date for the fourth killing is due. He has to find the last victim and save her. And he has only ten days to do it.