Conspiracy, intrigue, deceit, and murder in the holiest of sanctuaries result from man's ultimate fall – thou shall not covet. It's based on religious and historical events that portray the fierce enmity within the Catholic Church emanating from the challenge of modernity versus tradition.

The novel traces an early nineteenth-century secret Italian document, The Permanent Instruction of the Alta Vendita, that maps out a generational blueprint to overthrow the hierarchy of the Catholic Church. The story takes place during the final phase of this conspiracy at a time when the Church is most vulnerable following the deadly sins of child molestation, the redefining of family and marriage, and the attempt to overthrow theological rigidity and conservatism.

New York Medical Examiner and detective, Dr. Jeffrey Moss, fresh from solving The Mystery of the Milton Manuscript, leads the investigation of a young priest murdered at 452 Madison Avenue, the official residence of the Archbishop of New York. At autopsy, the examination reveals three gold pieces ingeniously hidden, two, of which, were designed for Pope Clement VII by Benvenuto Cellini, the great Italian Renaissance artist, and the third, a diadem originating from the earliest days of the Israelites in Egypt.

Together with the brilliant archeologist, Daniella Teller, the duo delve into ancient biblical texts, Jewish and Christian history, the deepest secrets of the Masonic Brotherhood, and the internal strife within today’s Vatican to pursue the murderer. The plot turns to terror, including the attempted murder of the Pope himself, as Jeff and Daniella probe the secrets of The Vatican’s Vault that uncovers a conspiracy to destroy the Church and its Papacy.

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING

In his second novel, The Vatican's Vault, Dr. Barry Libin offers a thriller that has something to say, though that never gets in the way of a unique and original story which combines elements of the police procedural with high adventure.