City of Vengeance

Shortlisted for the 2021 Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize and longlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger 2021.City of Vengeance is an explosive debut novel in an historical thriller series by D. V. Bishop, set in Renaissance Florence.'An impressive and immersive debut set in a beautifully realized sixteenth-century Florence' – Antonia Hodgson'A first-class historical thriller . . . Bishop’s spirited and richly detailed story is a tour-de-force' – David BaldacciFlorence. 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?'Richly atmospheric . . . transports you to another time and place' – Ambrose Parry, author of The Way of All FleshContinue the historical series with The Darkest Sin.

An impressive and immersive debut set in a beautifully realized sixteenth-century Florence. Investigator Cesare Aldo is a fascinating and charismatic protagonist. Highly recommended, A first-class historical thriller with echoes of The Name of the Rose. Bishop’s spirited and richly detailed story, layered with issues of humanity that still bedevil society today, is a tour-de-force and clearly demonstrates the sixteenth century was as full of thrills and mysteries as the twenty-first, perhaps even a shade more, Richly atmospheric . . . transports you to another time and place, So fluid and fluent, the pages almost turn themselves . . . Aldo is a great creation, resourceful, driven and forced to hide who he really is, but nevertheless is compelled to find justice for those who deserve it, Cross-dressing, torture, oodles of violence — this pungent example of historical noir has the lot

D. V. Bishop is an award-winning screenwriter and TV dramatist. His love for the city of Florence and the Renaissance period meant there could be only one setting for his crime fiction debut. City of Vengeance won the Pitch Perfect competition at Bloody Scotland 2018, and he was awarded a Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship by the Scottish Book Trust while writing the novel. When not busy being programme leader for creative writing at Edinburgh Napier University, he plans his next research trip to Florence.