Almost three years have elapsed since Dexter Grant moved to Venice, and now with his partner, Juliette Reed, both can finally enjoy living their lives following the horrendous sequence of criminal events which had earlier plagued them. Although the events of yesterday now appear to have stabilized, just a few kilometers north of Venice, Chief Inspector Gino Novara was currently regrouping his team, having again received government instructions to resolve a new wave of associated criminal activities in both Europe and the United States of America. The infamous Assignment Bureau, which the police had been chasing for several years, had continued to cause both a threat and embarrassment to government circles in both Italy and the United States. In addition to the many unsolved "killings" performed by the bureau, a new wave of cybercrime had been linked with these activities, creating concern throughout major financial and industrial sectors of the world. Retribution at Albi is a formidable story of intrigue and murder which portrays the concluding part to a trilogy of mystery thrillers, the first two being Assignment Pellestrina and In Pursuit of Arete. This third component of the narrative returns to Venice, then onto the United States and culminates in Southern France, reuniting several of the original characters.