"A novel about the murky world of media politics, conspiracy, and murder."-- 1945, Lake Como. Mussolini and his mistress are captured and shot by local partisans. The precise circumstances of Il Duce's death remain controversial. 1992, Milan. Colonna, a depressed hack writer, is offered a fee he can't resist to ghostwrite a book. His subject: a fledgling newspaper, which happens to be financed by a powerful media magnate. As Colonna gets to know...

In Milan to attend the unveiling of a parchment that contains the original recipe for a traditional holiday bread, Geronimo Stilton is shocked when a thief posing as him steals the recipe, forcing him to catch the culprit and clear his name.

Dermot works on solving the mystery of Chicago's Haymarket Riot while Nuala struggles to help a Chicago Irish bigshot with the mark of death on him and the couple try to cope with the stress a premature birth places on their marriage.