Italy Historical Thriller

On orders from Duke Cesare Borgia, Leonardo exposes a necromancer as a fraud, which implicates a noble family in the plot to murder cardinals and is finally released from his contract to the Duke. Leonardo is finally free to return home to Florence and wishes only for a simpler life so he can work in peace and solitude. However, Pisa has declared their independence from Florence and now occupies the principal port in Tuscany cutting off Florence’s access to trade! Leonardo is commissioned to devise a plan to divert the waters of the Arno which will leave Pisa with no outlet to the sea. ...

Art, power, desire, and illusion collide in a hypnotic new novel from Olivia Laing, set in the months leading up to the murder of Pier Paolo Pasolini in 1975. This program is read by actor Ben Cura, known for his roles in Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, Outlander, and The Head. It is...

Benevento, AD 619: A Spy’s Game in a Losing Empire Who butchered Tubby Quintus in Rodi’s bed? Not Rodi himself – the Byzantine Empire’s youngest spy in the West was in another bed when it happened. Was it Aripert, the vicious and expendable brother of the Lombard King? Was it Gisulf, the Duke’s pretty but manipulative and no less expendable nephew? Was it the Duchess – half-drunken, half-shifty regent of Benevento in her husband’s unexplained absence? Or Clementian, her cadaverous steward and trusted “adviser”? So long as he can avoid being hanged at the demand of everyone...

In the nonfiction tradition of John Berendt and Erik Larson, the author of the #1 NYT bestseller The Lost City of the Monkey God presents a gripping account of crime and punishment in the lush hills surrounding Florence as he seeks to uncover one of the most infamous figures in Italian history...

In a race across Nazi-occupied Italy, two women—a German photographer and an American stenographer—hunt for priceless masterpieces looted from the Florentine art collections. In the summer of 1943, Eva Brunner is taking photographs of Nazi-looted art hidden in the salt mines of the Austrian...

Naples, Italy, during four fateful days in the fall of 1943. The only people left in the shattered, bombed-out city are the lost, abandoned children whose only goal is to survive another day. None could imagine that they would become fearless fighters and the unlikeliest heroes of World War II...

THE MISSING YEARS FROM THE GREATEST CRIME SAGA OF ALL TIME Thirty-five years ago, Mario Puzo’s great American tale, The Godfather, was published, and popular culture was indelibly changed. Now, in The Godfather Returns, acclaimed novelist Mark Winegardner continues the story–the years not...

Virtuoso storyteller Umberto Eco conjures up a gloriously rich portrait of 14th century Franciscan Italy with such grace, ease, wit, and love that you will become utterly intoxicated with the place and time. The story is performed by Theodore Bikel who has starred in numerous Broadway hits, including The Sound of Music, Zorba, and Fiddler on the Roof.

When midwife Sarah Brandt visits Little Italy to check up on a new mother who delivered her baby just the day before, she finds the young woman dead. The family insists that the death was from complications of childbirth. Sarah disagrees. So does the woman's own mother, an Irishwoman who spreads the story that the girl was murdered by her Italian in-laws, the Ruoccos - an accusation that inflames tensions between the two immigrant groups.

"I must know what the king of Spain is going to do before he knows it himself. And that, Shakespeare, is why you are going to Italy." With these enigmatic words, Sir Francis Walsingham sends a young, unknown poet on a mission to Venice—a city of masks, secrets, and shadows. The poet is none other than William Shakespeare, tasked with a mission of espionage that could change the fate of England. Accompanied by the high-spirited illegitimate son of an English earl, young Will embarks on what seems a simple errand: find Walsingham’s agent in Venice and deliver secret instructions. But in ...

-Publishers Weekly starred review- -Elit Award Silver Medalist- -Book Excellence Award finalist- Italy 1464: Power hungry aristocrats are battling for control of Florence. Can a young Florentine stop his birthplace from plunging into chaos? When young lawyer Nico Argenti returns home from the university eager to start a promising career, he is recruited by the Florentine Chancellor to help defeat power hungry aristocrats who are plotting to overthrow the government. Nico must rely on more than his quick wits when the shadowy villains put him in life-threatening danger as an assassin's ...

Flavia Albia, daughter and successor of private informer Marcus Didius Falco is twiddling her thumbs with no clients during the December festival of Saturnalia. But that doesn't mean all is quiet. Her husband Tiberius and the Fourth Cohort are battling organized crime interests that are going to war over the festival nuts. A series of accidental poisonings, then bloody murders of rival nut-sellers, and finally a gruesome warning to Tiberius from the hidden criminal powers to back off.

From the bestselling author of Los Alamos and The Good German comes Joseph Kanon's riveting tale of love, revenge and murder set in postwar Venice. Winner of the Hammett Prize It is 1946, and Adam Miller has come to Venice to visit his widowed mother and try to forget the horrors he has...

“[Steve Berry] has a genuine feel for the factual gaps that give history its tantalizing air of the unknown.”—The New York Times Book Review After narrowly escaping incineration in a devastating fire that consumes a Danish museum, Cotton Malone—former Justice Department agent turned...

In Renaissance Italy, townspeople are threatened by a vindictive knight and his cohorts. Can they be rescued before the knight unleashes his fury? When the tyrant defies a court ruling, young lawyer Nico Argenti resorts to other means to defeat the knight and win the town’s independence. The Advisor: Intrigue in Tuscany is an Indie Reader Discovery Award Winner. It is the second book in the Nico Argenti series and can be read standalone. Get your copy now to discover why this gripping novel is a favorite of historical mystery fans.

THE MISSING YEARS FROM THE GREATEST CRIME SAGA OF ALL TIME Thirty-five years ago, Mario Puzo’s great American tale, The Godfather, was published, and popular culture was indelibly changed. Now, in The Godfather Returns, acclaimed novelist Mark Winegardner continues the story–the years not...

The Crime Writers' Association Historical Dagger Winning Author 'Brilliant' – Ian Rankin 'Full of dash and atmosphere' – The Times Venice. Winter, 1539. When Cesare Aldo learns of a conspiracy to assassinate Duke Cosimo de’ Medici, he is hired to protect the ruler of Florence – with his...

A vengeful renegade is targeting rogue mercenaries against the city of Florence. Can a young lawyer foil the sinister scheme? Renaissance Italy, 1465. The first hint of trouble comes from Nico Argenti's sister, who tells him that boys are going missing from the orphanage. She prevails upon Nico to look into the matter, but before the young lawyer can do so, he is dispatched to Bologna on an official mission to investigate rogue mercenaries in a neighboring province near the Florentine border. While in Bologna, Nico unearths a connection between the missing boys, the mercenaries, and a ...

A tragic death at a betrothal ceremony embroils Nico Argenti in the treacherous world of Renaissance Florence's elite. Guests are gathered at a villa in the Tuscan countryside to celebrate a betrothal that would unite two powerful Florentine families. The joyful atmosphere is shattered when the groom-to-be is discovered murdered. Florentine Security Commission member Nico Argenti, himself a guest, is charged with finding the killer, suspected to be an invited guest or a member of the villa staff. The investigation exposes Nico and his colleagues to the jealous motives of guests and a chain ...

*Winner of the CWA Historical Dagger 2023* 'A great insight into Renaissance Florence. What I love about these books is the seamless weaving of factual history with a great story' – Abir Mukherjee Florence. Spring, 1537. When Cesare Aldo investigates a report of intruders at a convent in the...