Ripley's Game

The third book in Patricia Highsmith's Ripley series, "Ripley's Ball" is set in present day Italy, where art connoisseur, harpsichord aficionado, master of soufflés and genius of improvisational murder, Ripley (John Malkovich) finds his complacency shaken when he is scorned at a local party. While any ordinary sociopath might repay the insult with some mild act of retribution, the game Ripley has in mind is far subtler, and infinitely more sinister.