Eroica and Gabriel meet at a party being held by a matronly art collector who is destined to fall victim to the Earl's gang of art thieves. Surrounded by his gang of immaculately dressed and well-coiffed underlings, Eroica is as bedazzled by the sight of Caesar as he is a painting by Vermeer ("The face of an angel, a lithe body, an amazing mind," he thinks as he sets eyes on the art instructor for the first time). Though Eroica's infatuation sparks the jealousy of at least one of his gang members - a tight-fisted accountant - he flirts with the befuddled Caesar, who is eventually flees to his bed with a copy of a book entitled How to Deal With Unwanted Gay Romances by his side. Subtle, Aioke is not.

While set in the world of international art thieves, Eroica is less concerned with the mechanics of its caper storylines - which come across as sketchily perfunctory as anything Roger Moore assayed in his pre-Bond days - as it is the extensive "come hither" moments between Eroica and Caesar. With the introduction of Major Klaus Eberbach in the second episode, a strained triangle is introduced (and third wheel telepaths Sugar and Leopard get rather quickly shuffled offstage).

Also thin and long-haired in the manner of 70's glam rockers, the Germanic Major represents super-ego repression to the max. Upon meeting the "flamboyant" Earl, Klaus immediately types him a degenerate "slime" - and he's just as judgmental about the delicate Caesar, who he considers a "wimp." (Hard to argue with that assessment, actually: the kid faints at the drop of an innuendo and is irritatingly weepy.) At first assigned by NATO to investigate Caesar's putative telepathic powers, the chain-smoking Major enters a battle of wits against Eroica when the latter decides he wants a painting in that is part of the Eberbach family collection. ("If nothing else, I want that painting in order to thoroughly embarrass that thoroughly arrogant German," Eroica proclaims after their first highly charged meeting.) This leads to a chase on the shores on the Northern Seas with all three men - Eroica, Klaus and poor frail Caesar - left stranded in a tank in the frozen north, forced to huddle against each other for warmth. Awkward? Not for Eroica.

In short, there's a whole lotta tease in From Eroica With Love, much of it at the expense of either the ultra-nelly Caesar or uptight Major Klaus. In the book's third and final episode, the German officer is assigned the task of retrieving a microfilm hidden under the skirt of a statue of Achilles, and there are several snickery moments when the Major considers the prospect of delving under a marble man's skirt. Unfortunately, both the Major and the reader are kept from learning what is truly 'neath that skirt since the steamship carrying it is hijacked at sea. At the same time, of course, Eroica has his eyes on the statue, stating that his love of art "demands" that he possess it.