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  • Details
    Ken Tentarelli

    Ken Tentarelli

    Author

    Ken Tentarelli is a frequent visitor to Italy. In travels from the Alps to the southern coast of...
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ClareR (5975 KP) rated The Darkest Sin in Books

Dec 4, 2023  
The Darkest Sin
The Darkest Sin
D. V. Bishop | 2022 | Crime, Fiction & Poetry, Mystery, Thriller
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I loved this follow up to The City of Vengeance, and Cesare Aldo is quickly becoming one of my favourite characters in historical fiction at the moment. And that’s saying a lot, because I read quite a bit of historical fiction!!

This story picks up not long after book 1, and Aldo is called to a convent that has had reports of an intruder. This isn’t a harmonious convent, though. There are opposing ideas on what sort of convent it should be (with some very unchristian nuns!), and it has it’s share of secrets.

Meanwhile, Constable Carlo Strocchi has taken his new wife home to introduce her to his mother, and he happens to stumble across the remains of a rather unpopular former officer of the city’s criminal court. And it looks as though he has been murdered.

I love this blend of historical fact and fiction: the Medici’s and the roles of nuns (to be enclosed or not?), the inequalities in Italian society at the time, women’s roles and lack of power, the structure of authority and how the catholic church ruled supreme (and not particularly morally). Aldo is the bastard son of a wealthy man, and when he is ‘reunited’ with his family, he’s not exactly welcomed back with open arms. He does however meet his niece, and she is far more accepting of him, even if it is, I think, a way of getting her own way!!

This is such an atmospheric read, and is thoroughly addictive. There are enough twists, turns and threats to Aldo’s life to make it very difficult to put the book down!

So is Aldo a threat to my love of Giordano Bruno or Matthew Shardlake? Err, nope, but he’s joining them - and if you like either of these, you’ll love Aldo Cesare!
  
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ClareR (5975 KP) rated Lucifer’s Game in Books

Feb 15, 2022  
Lucifer’s Game
Lucifer’s Game
Cristina Loggia | 2022 | Fiction & Poetry, Thriller
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
This was an enjoyable, well-researched historical fiction novel set during WW2 in Rome.
Cordelia Olivieri’s life in Rome becomes more precarious as the Italian fascists start to identify more Italians with Jewish heritage. Cordelia’s English mother was Jewish. She has a friend in the Vatican who promises to get her on a transport to England, if she will just photograph the German plans for North Africa. This seems a simple task (or not!), as the German officer in charge of the planning for Rommel has taken over Cordelia’s hotel as his centre of operations. But Cordelia complicates things somewhat when she starts to fall in love with him.
The villains in this book are thoroughly despicable, and the ‘goodies’ are in constant danger. It’s all very nail-bitingly exciting and another great read on The Pigeonhole!