The Complete Book list of the Cesare Aldo

Synopsis

In City of Vengeance by D.V. Bishop, set in Florence during the winter of 1536, a Jewish moneylender is found murdered, sending shockwaves through a city fueled by immense wealth and political intrigue. Cesare Aldo, a former soldier turned officer in the feared criminal court, is tasked with solving the murder within four days, before the Feast of Epiphany, or face dire consequences.

As Aldo digs deeper, he uncovers a dangerous conspiracy to overthrow the city’s volatile ruler, Duke Alessandro de’ Medici, which could plunge Florence into chaos. At the same time, a rival officer seeks to expose Aldo’s private secrets, threatening his personal and professional life. Aldo must race against time to stop the plot, solve the murder, and protect his own hidden truths before it’s too late.

Synopsis

In The Darkest Sin by D.V. Bishop, set in spring 1537 Florence, Cesare Aldo is called to investigate a report of intruders at a convent in the city’s northern quarter. Inside, he uncovers a community rife with tension and secrets. The case takes a shocking turn when the body of a man, brutally stabbed over two dozen times, is found within the convent. All evidence points to the unthinkable: one of the nuns may be the murderer.

Meanwhile, Constable Carlo Strocchi is investigating human remains recovered from the Arno River, belonging to a missing officer of the city’s feared criminal court. As the two cases unfold, both Aldo and Strocchi are drawn into increasingly perilous investigations. As they get closer to uncovering the truth, they realize that identifying the killers may put them in grave danger, revealing more than they ever anticipated about the darker sides of Florence.

Synopsis

In Ritual of Fire by D.V. Bishop, set in the sweltering summer of 1538, Florence is gripped by fear when a wealthy merchant is found hanged and burned in the city’s main piazza. The killing mirrors the execution of the infamous monk Girolamo Savonarola, who was killed in the same brutal manner forty years earlier. The ritualistic nature of the murder raises concerns that Savonarola’s vengeful spirit, or perhaps his fanatic followers, are trying to revive his reign of religious terror.

With Cesare Aldo away in the Tuscan countryside hunting fugitives, the investigation falls to Constable Carlo Strocchi. As another prominent merchant is murdered in an even more public spectacle, panic spreads throughout Florence. The wealthy flee the city, but even the Tuscan hills prove unsafe. As religious fervour intensifies amidst a deadly heatwave, Strocchi and Aldo must join forces to stop the killer. The city teeters on the edge of chaos, and unless the murderer is stopped, Florence could once again be consumed by the madness of Savonarola’s “bonfire of the vanities.”

Synopsis

Carnival of Lies by D.V. Bishop is the fifth gripping installment in the Cesare Aldo historical thriller series, this time plunging readers into the shadows of Renaissance Venice.

It’s winter, 1539. Cesare Aldo, the formidable investigator and former soldier, is charged with protecting Duke Cosimo de’ Medici from an assassination plot. When a deadly attack shatters the fragile peace in Florence, Aldo’s mission takes a darker turn. A stolen journal filled with secrets that could upend the political foundations of the city falls into the wrong hands—and Aldo must recover it or face exile and disgrace.

His pursuit takes him back to the last place he ever wanted to see again: Venice. A city cloaked in masks, riddled with betrayal, and ruled by old enemies. Isolated and outnumbered, Aldo must navigate the deadly intrigue of the floating city, where nothing is as it seems and the cost of failure is fatal.

Rich in period detail and brimming with tension, Carnival of Lies is a masterful blend of historical fiction and crime. With sharp prose, vividly drawn settings, and a protagonist as compelling as he is conflicted, D.V. Bishop continues to redefine the historical thriller. Fans of C.J. Sansom and Robert Harris won’t want to miss this.

Synopsis

In A Divine Fury by D.V. Bishop, set in autumn 1539, Cesare Aldo, once a respected officer of Florence’s feared criminal court, returns from exile but is relegated to night patrol, tasked with policing the city’s streets during the dark hours when danger is most present. One stormy night, while pursuing a suspect, Aldo stumbles upon a gruesome scene beneath Michelangelo’s statue of David: a man’s lifeless body posed as though crucified, staring with vacant eyes. The positioning and brutality of the murder suggest a disturbing religious motive.

As more bodies turn up, Aldo becomes convinced that Florence is being stalked by a religiously driven killer—one who watches his victims closely, hunts them mercilessly, and strikes at calculated moments. With fear spreading through the city, Aldo must act quickly to unmask the killer before they strike again.