The Rule of Four (US edition)An ivy league murder, a mysterious coded manuscript, and the secrets of a Renaissance prince collide memorably in The Rule of Foura brilliant work of fiction that weaves together suspense and scholarship, high art and unimaginable treachery. It's Easter at Princeton. Seniors are scrambling to finish their theses. And two students, Tom Sullivan and Paul Harris, are a hair's breadth from solving the mysteries of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphilia renowned

'Delicate and strong

six hundred years ago

Maggie refuses to accept that she could have lost her only child and sets out to discover the truth

In this epic novel - named for a shape with a countably infinite number of sides - Colum McCann crosses centuries and continents

With droll humor and rare compassion

Why is the millionaire Theocharis so nervous and whose bones does old Maro keep beneath her bed

His subsequent disappearance is never solved

Mr Shaw works for an insurance company

eager to beat everybody to the loot

Can she pull her new team together to catch the killer before its too late

The press knows of the enmity between him and Chalamont

Bettina Whitelaw is a grand dame of the English literary scene