Serena Plievier, flautist by profession, superlative decadent by tendency, must subsidise her income with the mellow art of assassination in this romance of violence and harmony, of dull lists and extraordinary occurrences. Histories of sound and perversion are painted in Holland, Germany and Italy, in a Europe of decay that is accented by Mozart and has the court of Ludovico Sforza as backdrop. A relentless symphony of pleasantries and things unpleasant sketched with the inimitable style of a master’s hand.