Il pavone dell'Imperatore

China, second century BC: a man named Mo Ti builds automata with the appearance of birds, capable of performing articulated movements and even flying. His ingenuity earns him the emperor's favor, but his rise is short-lived: some courtiers, jealous of his position, have him killed, and his greatest creation disappears into thin air. New York, 2006: a rich collector of art objects is found mysteriously murdered in his villa, and Jessica, his beautiful young wife, who everyone believes married him out of interest, is accused of the crime. Desperate, the girl turns to the only person willing to believe in her innocence, her old friend Diana Lombard. Determined to help Jessica, Diana also involves Martin, who soon finds a "mysterious" trail to follow. It seems that the victim was in contact with traffickers of works of art, and that the highlight of his collection was of illicit origin: a beautiful mechanical peacock made in China...