City of vengeance by D.V. Bishop

Cesare Aldo is a former soldier, now working as an officer in the criminal court in Renaissance Florence in 1536. He has recently returned from guarding a Florentine Jewish money lender, Levy, escorting him from Bologna to Florence with a large amount of cash. An incident along the road shows Aldo putting his life on the line for this man and when he returns him back to his home in the Jewish quarter, unharmed, he is most relieved. Bu the very next night, Levy is stabbed to death, causing Aldo to recall what little he knows along with the few conversations he had with the man as they rode together. He is given four days to find the killer. The merchant guilds and the Jewish money lending communities are involved in keeping the state going, and their influence is everywhere, so he is extra cautious. But when the body of Corsini is found, dressed not as the young man that the was, but in an amazingly detailed and expensive woman’s dress, Aldo cannot help but investigate his murder, being one of his own community.  

Aldo tracks his movements, following the material of the dress, so finding himself at odds not only with one fo the guilds, but with another officer in his unit, Cherchi, a corrupt investigator, a man devoted to calling Aldo out as homosexual. Aldo lives in a room in a bordello, belying his true nature and he is intrigued by a Jewish doctor he meets when Levy is killed.

As Aldo and his constable investigate, questions are asked which put them in danger. Aldo realises that the work being done by Levy and his former partner was to fund an attempted coup to replace the Duke of Florence, Alessandro de Medici with his cousin, Lorenzino de Medici.

A wonderful crime thriller set in Medici Florence is thoroughly engrossing as Aldo and his young constable, Strocchi, find themselves in life and death situations. But when Aldo is incarcerated in the notorious prison, Le Stinche, after the work done by his nemesis, Cherchi, comes to fruition he is aware that no officer of the court comes out of here alive.

The setting is wonderful and many of the characters are real people, revealing the depth of historical research done by Scottish writer, D.V. Bishop.

I listened to this book, and am now halfway through the second in the series, The darkest sun, and an happy to find that there are two more, Ritual of fire and Divine fury.

Themes: Florence, Murder, Corruption, Homosexuality, Medici, Jewish quarter, Cesare Aldo series.

Fran Knight