Book List Cesare Aldo D.V. Bishop’s Italian Renaissance Detective

The Cesare Aldo series comprises crime fiction novels set in and around the Italian city of Florence during the Renaissance, leveraging the political tension of the era as a foundation for the narratives.

Starting with the first novel City of Vengeance in the winter of 1836 with each subsequent novel set a short while later.

Cesare Aldo Books

Title	Publication date	Pages	Setting
City of Vengeance	4th February 2021	416	Florence. Winter, 1536
The Darkest Sin	3rd March 2022	432	Florence, Spring, 1537.
Ritual of Fire	15th August 2023	416	Florence, Summer, 1538.
A Divine Fury	17th September 2024 exp	416 (?)	Florence, Autumn, 1539.

Synopsis

City of Vengeance

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?

The Darkest Sin

“The Darkest Sin” by D. V. Bishop an atmospheric historical thriller set in Renaissance Florence, serving as the sequel to

In the spring of 1537, Cesare Aldo delves into an investigation at a convent located in the northern quarter of the city. Within this community, bitter rivalries simmer and dark secrets fester. The case takes a harrowing turn when a mutilated body is discovered within the convent’s confines, bearing over two dozen stab wounds. Shockingly, all evidence points towards one of the nuns as the perpetrator.

Simultaneously, Constable Carlo Strocchi grapples with a separate mystery involving human remains dredged from the depths of the Arno River. These remains belong to an officer of the law who vanished during the winter. Though the deceased officer had garnered numerous foes, the question remains: who would dare to slay an official of Florence’s most feared criminal court?

As Aldo and Strocchi navigate through the labyrinth of deception, uncovering the truth behind these heinous acts will prove more perilous than either could have anticipated.

Ritual of Fire

Florence. Summer, 1538.

A night patrol finds a rich merchant hanged and set ablaze in the city’s main piazza. More than mere murder, this killing is intended to put the fear of God into Florence. Forty years earlier on this date, puritanical monk Girolamo Savonarola was executed the same way in the same place. Does this new killing mean Savonarola’s vengeful spirit has risen again?

Or are his fanatical disciples plotting to revive the monk’s regime of holy terror? Cesare Aldo has his suspicions but is hunting thieves and fugitives in the Tuscan countryside, leaving Constable Carlo Strocchi to investigate the ritual killing. When another important merchant is slain even more publicly than the first, those rich enough to escape the summer heat are fleeing to their country estates. But the Tuscan hills can also be dangerous places.

Soon growing religious fervour combines with a scorching heatwave to drive the city ever closer to madness, while someone is stalking powerful men that forged lifelong alliances during the dark days of Savonarola and his brutal followers. Unless Aldo and Strocchi can work together to stop the killer, Florence could become a bonfire of the vanities once more . .

A Divine Fury

Florence. Autumn, 1539.

Cesare Aldo was once an officer for the city’s most feared criminal court. Following a period of exile, he is back – but demoted to night patrol, when only the drunk and the dangerous roam the streets.

Chasing a suspect in the rain, Aldo discovers a horrifying scene beneath Michelangelo’s statue of David. Lifeless eyes gaze from the face of a man whose body has been posed as if crucified. It’s clear the killer had religious motives.

When more bodies appear, Aldo believes an unholy murderer is stalking the citizens of Florence. Watching. Hunting. Waiting for the perfect moment to strike again . . .

Writer

D.V. Bishop

The writer whose work includes a number of genres, could have chosen a number of locations or time period for the setting of his detective series.

Bishop’s love for Florence during the Renaissance drove him to set what would become the Cesare Aldo series in his favourite time period and location.

If D.V. Bishop’s Italian Renaissance Cesare Aldo is not for you then you should check this link of 21 Fictional Detectives You Should read for some other crime fiction to read.

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Above All KEEP SAFE And TREAT PEOPLE FAIRLY

Mark