Used paperback in good condition. Cover and pages showing minimal wear. Pages with normal age discolouration. 397 pages. Published by Panther Books, 1978. ISBN 0586045775.

Sensual, treacherous, grandiose, Victor Maitland may be a great painter, but he is not a man who inspires love. So when he falls victim to a savage knife attack, there are few who mourn his death, while many stand to profit by it.

Chief Edward Delaney starts his investigation of Maitland's family, friends and professional colleagues. With infinite patience, he uncovers a tangled jungle of human passions dominated by the lust for wealth, beauty, power and prestige. All around is the corrupting aura of greed, the Second Deadly Sin. And somewhere among those close to Maitland is the one person whose overwhelming avarice led to murder of a brilliant artist worth more dead than alive.