Winner of the Pitch Perfect Prize at Bloody Scotland

Winner of the NZ Booklovers Prize for Best Adult Novel

Shortlisted for the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize

A first-class historical thriller with echoes of The Name of the Rose . . . a tour-de-force and clearly demonstrates the sixteenth century was as full of thrills and mysteries as the twenty-first, perhaps even a shade more -- David Baldacci

An impressive and immersive debut set in a beautifully realized sixteenth-century Florence. Investigator Cesare Aldo is a fascinating and charismatic protagonist. Highly recommended -- Antonia Hodgson

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?