The Holy Spear of Destiny has been vandalised in its display in the Vienna Hofburg Museum. When she is called upon by the authorities to test the authenticity of the spear, metallurgist Vanessa Descartes quickly realises she is involved in a horrific murder case. She is joined in the investigation by eccentric Oxford scholar Dr. Emmanuel Khalamanga, who is convinced of a connection to ancient Holy Grail legends and Professor Tomas de Carranza, best-selling author of radical Biblical histories. This diverse trio find themselves in a race against time with the Vienna police department to solve the growing mystery. But as they interpret the symbols left at the scene, and discover more pieces of the puzzle, an even more terrifying reality reveals itself ¿ the existence of an invisible `holy war¿ that has been fought since the Middle Ages, and is about to end in blood and death on the streets of Vienna¿ Illustrated by the author with 5 black and white plates.