Florence. Summer, 1538.

A night patrol finds a rich merchant hanged and set ablaze in the city’s main piazza. More than mere murder, this killing is intended to put the fear of God into Florence. Forty years earlier on this date, puritanical monk Girolamo Savonarola was executed the same way in the same place. Does this new killing mean Savonarola’s vengeful spirit has risen again?

Or are his fanatical disciples plotting to revive the monk’s regime of holy terror? Cesare Aldo has his suspicions but is hunting thieves and fugitives in the Tuscan countryside, leaving Constable Carlo Strocchi to investigate the ritual killing. When another important merchant is slain even more publicly than the first, those rich enough to escape the summer heat are fleeing to their country estates. But the Tuscan hills can also be dangerous places.

Soon growing religious fervor combines with a scorching heatwave to drive the city ever closer to madness, while someone is stalking powerful men that forged lifelong alliances during the dark days of Savonarola and his brutal followers. Unless Aldo and Strocchi can work together to stop the killer, Florence could become a bonfire of the vanities once more . . .

Review:

Dark, alluring, and suspenseful!

Ritual of Fire, the third novel in the Cesare Aldo series, takes us back to Renaissance Florence in the summer of 1538, where Cesare Aldo and Constable Stocchi find themselves having to finally confront the rift that’s been straining their relationship in order to work to together to catch a ruthless killer who seems to have a very specific target list and a penchant for reenacting a ritualistic killing from the past.

The prose is descriptive and tight. The characters are driven, fearless, and conscientious. And the plot is a complex, absorbing tale full of danger, deception, corruption, politics, religion, friendship, savagery, terror, and murder.

Overall, Ritual of Fire is an addictive, engrossing, thrilling addition to what has become a must-read series for me with its flawed characters, rich historical setting, and action-packed, gritty storylines.

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

Florence. Spring, 1537.

When Cesare Aldo investigates a report of intruders at a convent in the Renaissance city’s northern quarter, he enters a community divided by bitter rivalries and harbouring dark secrets.

His case becomes far more complicated when a naked man’s body is found deep inside the convent, stabbed more than two dozen times. Unthinkable as it seems, all the evidence suggests one of the nuns must be the killer.

Meanwhile, Constable Carlo Strocchi finds human remains pulled from the Arno that belong to an officer of the law missing since winter. The dead man had many enemies, but who would dare kill an official of the city’s most feared criminal court?

As Aldo and Strocchi close in on the truth, identifying the killers will prove more treacherous than either of them could ever have imagined . . .

Review:

Sinister, evocative, and enthralling!

The Darkest Sin is the complex, thrilling sequel that takes us back to Renaissance Florence in the spring of 1537 and into the life of Cesare Aldo, an officer of the Otto di Guardia e Balia, who now finds himself not only investigating the murder of a naked man found stabbed to death within the walls of the Santa Maria Magdalena convent, but also hoping that Constable Strocchi doesn’t have too much success discovering who actually killed their fellow brutish officer, Cherchi, who’s been missing since winter and whose body has just been recently discovered floating in the river Arno.

The prose is seamless and expressive. The characters are methodical, diligent, and tormented. And the plot is a gripping, twisty tale about life, loss, friendship, secrets, duty, deception, danger, abuse, corruption, politics, violence, and murder.

Overall, The Darkest Sin is another fabulous addition to the Cesare Aldo series by Bishop that does an exceptional job of interweaving historical times and compelling fiction into a gritty, suspenseful mystery that is darkly entertaining and exceptionally atmospheric. 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

City of Vengeance is an explosive debut historical thriller by D. V. Bishop, set in Renaissance Florence.

Florence. Winter, 1536. A prominent Jewish moneylender is murdered in his home, a death with wide implications in a city powered by immense wealth.

Cesare Aldo, a former soldier and now an officer of the Renaissance city’s most feared criminal court, is given four days to solve the murder: catch the killer before the feast of Epiphany – or suffer the consequences.

During his investigations Aldo uncovers a plot to overthrow the volatile ruler of Florence, Alessandro de’ Medici. If the Duke falls, it will endanger the whole city. But a rival officer of the court is determined to expose details about Aldo’s private life that could lead to his ruin. Can Aldo stop the conspiracy before anyone else dies, or will his own secrets destroy him first?

Review:

Mysterious, gritty, and atmospheric!

City of Vengeance is a dramatic, alluring tale that takes us back to Renaissance Florence in the winter of 1536 and into the life of Cesare Aldo, an officer of the Otto, as he struggles to investigate the murder of Jewish moneylender, Samuele Levi, expose a coup to once and for all remove Alessandro de’ Medici from power, and protect himself from a bigoted coworker intent on exposure.

The prose is authentic and fluid. The characters are complex, relentless, and intriguing. And the plot is a compelling, sinister tale full of life, loss, duty, friendship, coercion, deception, dissension, conspiracies, discrimination, political strife, violence, and murder.

Overall, City of Vengeance is a richly described, absorbing, well-written tale by Bishop that grabs you from the very first page and is a wonderful start to a series, Cesare Aldo, that blends two of my favourite genres, historical fiction and mystery, and interweaves it with a thread of all the weaknesses and vulnerabilities that ultimately make us human.

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.