Michael Ennis
Against a teeming canvas of Borgia politics, NiccolÃ² Machiavelli and Leonardo da Vinci come together to unmask an enigmaticÂ serial killer, as we learn the secret history behind one of the most controversial works in the western canon, ,The Prince...,When Pope Alexander dispatches a Vatican courtesan, Damiata, to the remote fortress city of Imola to learn the truth behind the murder of Juan, his most beloved illegitimate son, she cannot fail, for the scheming Borgia pope holds her own young son hostage. Once there, Damiata becomes a pawn in the political intrigues of the popeâ€™s surviving son, the charismatic Duke Valentino, whose own life is threatened by the ,condottieri,, a powerful cabal of mercenary warlords. Damiata suspects that the killer she seeks is one of the brutal ,condottierri,, and as the murders multiply, her quest grows more urgent. She enlists the help of an obscure Florentine diplomat, NiccolÃ² Machiavelli, and Valentinoâ€™s eccentric military engineer, Leonardo da Vinci, who together must struggle to decipher the killerâ€™s taunting riddles: Leonardo with his groundbreaking â€œscience of observationâ€ and Machiavelli with his new â€œscience of men.â€ Traveling across an Italy torn apart by war, they will enter a labyrinth of ancient superstition and erotic obsession to discover at its centerÂ a new face of evilâ€”and a truth that will shake the foundations of western civilization.Â 
Historical,Historical Fiction,Mystery,Fiction,Cultural,Italy,Historical,Thriller,Mystery,Historical Mystery,Thriller,Mystery Thriller,Audiobook,Adult
The Malice of Fortune