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Shortlisted for the 2021 Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize and longlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger 2021.'An impressive and immersive debut set in a beautifully realized sixteenth-century Florence' Antonia Hodgson'A first-class historical thriller . . . Bishop's spirited and richly detailed story is a tour-de-force' David Baldacci'Richly atmospheric . . . transports you to another time and place' Ambrose Parry, author of The Way of All FleshCity of Vengeance is an explosive debut novel in an historical thriller series by D. V. Bishop, set in Renaissance Florence, which continues with The Darkest Sin.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?
About the author
D. V. Bishop is the pseudonym of award-winning writer David Bishop. His love for the city of Florence and the Renaissance period meant there could be only one setting for his historical thrillers. The first Cesare Aldo novel, City of Vengeance, won the Pitch Perfect competition at the Bloody Scotland crime writing festival and the NZ Booklovers Award for Best Adult Fiction Book. Book two in the series, The Darkest Sin, won the prestigious Crime Writers' Association Historical Dagger. He teaches creative writing at Edinburgh Napier University.
Summary
City of Vengeance is an explosive debut novel by D. V. Bishop set in Renaissance Florence, the first in a historical thriller series which continues with The Darkest Sin, winner of the CWA Historical Dagger Award 2023.
'He is fast becoming a serious rival to C. J. Sansom and S. J. Parris' – Historical Novel Society
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?
'A first-class historical thriller . . . Bishop’s spirited and richly detailed story is a tour-de-force' – David Baldacci
'An impressive and immersive debut set in a beautifully realized sixteenth-century Florence' – Antonia Hodgson, author of The Devil in Marshalsea
'Richly atmospheric . . . transports you to another time and place' – Ambrose Parry, author of The Way of All Flesh
Additional text
A thrilling historical crime novel, with more twists and turns than the river Arno, and a fantastic cast of characters both fictional and factual
