Sign of the Seahorse

When Angela Cingolani's body is found at the bottom of the cliff the police initially rule her death an accident. This explanation does not however satisfy her best friends, twin sisters Julia and Christine.  Visiting their grandmother and her friend, a robust Russian lady dealing in spirits and the supernatural, on the Mediterranean island of Elba the twins are devastated to learn that the woman they had known most of their lives was dead. She had presumably been thrown from a path leading along a cliff when a sudden rock slide had occured. Knowing the path well Julia and Christine refuse to believe Angela would have ventured out on it after the recent heavy rainfall the island had experienced. Angela, a marine biologist, was never careless and the twins immidiately suspect that there is more to her death than a simple accident. They are completely astonished, however, when police inspector Riccardo Vitali agrees with them and instead rules Angela's death a suicide. Suicide? That they could not believe. But perhaps they had not known their friend as well as they had thought, as Inspector Vitali points out to them. He is quite satisfied that he had found the right answer and even warns the twins to let it go and stay out of the matter. But Julia gets the feeling that the inspector knows more than he is letting on. Something strange is going on regarding Angela's death and the twins decide to find out what it is. The same evidence pointing to suicide could just as easily point to murder. As they start investigating they find a list of suspects and motives that astonish them, and grieve them when they find that even her husband had a motive - a very big life insurance policy that would pay off all the gambling debts he had secretly incurred. But the motive might not be that personal at all.  Angela's marine project involved trying to re-establish a colony of monk seals at the nearby island of Montecristo. This had made the local fishermen none too happy since it meant more fishing restrictions for them. Could they have killed her to stop the project? Or was her partner, the handsome American Marco Bradley, involved? He was very hostile toward the police. Had he been in love with Angela and had he killed her out of jealousy? And what about Carlos Cingolani, the playboy cousin of Angela's husband? Usually very debonaire he seemed uncharacteristically agitated about something. All of these people had a motive, and soon the twins discover also the opportunity, to kill Angela.  But which one of them did? Or was it someone totally unkown? Gradually the twins begin to realize that there had been things in Angela's life that they had been completely unaware of and when they finally discover her most dangerous secret it is almost too late.  When Julia is kidnapped the real evil behind the scene is revealed and the mystery is finally solved, but will Julia survive to tell the tale? A tale of ancient treasure hidden beneath the waters of the Mediterranean Sea for more than two-thousand years. A sunken Phoenician ship called the Seahorse, a ship with a violent and tragic history, resurfacing after a storm only to bring about death and tragedy for those who come into contact with it.