Overview

When Pope Alexander orders the courtesan Damiata to the remote fortress city of Imola to learn the truth behind the murder of his beloved son, Juan, she knows that failure comes at the price of her own child’s freedom.   However, a string of gruesome murders have left Imola’s residents too gripped by fear to help a lone woman. Enlisting the aid of the obscure Florentine diplomat Niccolò Machiavelli and the eccentric military engineer Leonardo da Vinci, Damiata sets off to decipher the killer’s taunting riddles: she with her street smarts, Leonardo with his groundbreaking “science of observation,” and Machiavelli with his new “science of men.”

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9780307951045

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Reviews

Epic... This is a dense narrative, permeated by the sights, sounds and smells of Renaissance Italy, and one that can stand shoulder to shoulder with Umberto Eco's Name of the Rose, with which it is sure to be compared. -- Kirkus (starred review) <br> Absorbing and intelligent... Fans of superior historical mystery writers such as Steven Saylor and Laura Jo Rowland will be enthralled. -- Publishers Weekly (boxed, starred review) <br> A hefty novel about the politics of 16th-century Italy [that] reads like a pulpy mystery... A thrilling whodunit--and a pretty good primer on da Vinci's 'science of observation' as well as Machiavelli's 'science of man.' --Melissa Maerz, Entertainment Weekly <br> Ennis is an uncommonly graceful writer and a conscientious researcher... his story zips along, a pleasure. --Charles Finch, USA Today <br> Ennis bring[s] multiple layers of authenticity to his epic novel. It's a heady mix of The Da Vinci Code, Borgia politics and The Silence of the Lambs. Think of it as CSI: Italy circa 1502, with Machiavelli as a detective and psychological profiler and da Vinci as history's first forensic pathologist. --Christian DuChateau, CNN <br> An intricate murder mystery and political thriller [with] a heartrending love story... Like the best historical fiction, the novel transports the reader entirely elsewhere. --Laura Pearson, Time Out Chicago<br> <br> Intricate... rewarding... The Malice of Fortune is reminiscent of Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose in that the intrigue is rich and is inextricably entwined in its world. Amid these walls of power the reader no more loses sight of the danger of the game than of the need to solve the puzzle. The novel works not just because it is a finely wrought history but because the characters are of their time while transcending it. --Robin Vidimos, The Denver Post <p> A novel that ranks among the best with the Italian Renaissance setting.... The narrative b

Epic... This is a dense narrative, permeated by the sights, sounds and smells of Renaissance Italy, and one that can stand shoulder to shoulder with Umberto Eco's Name of the Rose, with which it is sure to be compared. -- Kirkus (starred review) <br> Absorbing and intelligent... Fans of superior historical mystery writers such as Steven Saylor and Laura Jo Rowland will be enthralled. -- Publishers Weekly (boxed, starred review) <br> A hefty novel about the politics of 16th-century Italy [that] reads like a pulpy mystery... A thrilling whodunit--and a pretty good primer on da Vinci's 'science of observation' as well as Machiavelli's 'science of man.' --Melissa Maerz, Entertainment Weekly <br> Ennis is an uncommonly graceful writer and a conscientious researcher... his story zips along, a pleasure. --Charles Finch, USA Today <br> Ennis bring[s] multiple layers of authenticity to his epic novel. It's a heady mix of The Da Vinci Code, Borgia politics and The Silence of the Lambs. Think of it as CSI: Italy circa 1502, with Machiavelli as a detective and psychological profiler and da Vinci as history's first forensic pathologist. --Christian DuChateau, CNN <br> An intricate murder mystery and political thriller [with] a heartrending love story... Like the best historical fiction, the novel transports the reader entirely elsewhere. --Laura Pearson, Time Out Chicago<br> <br> Intricate, rewarding... The Malice of Fortune is reminiscent of Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose in that the intrigue is rich and is inextricably entwined in its world. Amid these walls of power the reader no more loses sight of the danger of the game than of the need to solve the puzzle. The novel works not just because it is a finely wrought history but because the characters are of their time while transcending it. --Robin Vidimos, The Denver Post <p> A novel that ranks among the best with the Italian Renaissance setting.... The narrative bri

Intricate, rewarding. . . . The Malice of Fortune is reminiscent of Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose in that the intrigue is rich and is inextricably entwined in its world... A finely wrought history --The Denver Post A heady mix of The Da Vinci Code, Borgia politics and The Silence of the Lambs. Think of it as CSI: Italy circa 1502, with Machiavelli as a detective and psychological profiler and da Vinci as history's first forensic pathologist. --Christian DuChateau, CNN.com Ennis is an uncommonly graceful writer and a conscientious researcher. . . . [The Malice of Fortune] zips along, a pleasure. --USA Today Stunning, terrifying, and utterly mesmerizing. I can honestly say I never fully appreciated the genius of Machiavelli, or the savagery of the Borgias, until now. --Anne Fortier, author of Juliet Machiavelli and [Da Vinci] aren't just another Holmes and Watson. What Ennis has created is a scenario with two Sherlock Holmeses, each applying his unique approach to crime-solving in an age when even the most fundamental forensics techniques would be regarded as heresy. --Dallas Morning News A thrilling whodunit. --Entertainment Weekly The Malice of Fortune captures the glorious and gritty details of Renaissance Italy in a propulsive story. Ennis has achieved a great accomplishment, historical fiction that places us right into the characters' present. --Matthew Pearl, author of The Dante Club and The Technologists Ennis brilliantly recreates the complex politics of early 16th-century Italy in this absorbing and intelligent thriller that teams Leonardo da Vinci with Niccol Machiavelli. --Publishers Weekly (starred review) Ranks among the best. . . . Firmly rooted in history, as recorded in Machiavelli's writings. --San Antonio Express-News For readers who liked The Name of the Rose or The Historian, Ennis has the similar ability to wrap the reader totally in Machiavelli's world of conspiracy, hatred, and passion. Fabuloso! --Shelf Awareness An intricate murder mystery and political thriller. . . . Like the best historical fiction, the novel transports the reader entirely elsewhere. --Time Out Chicago This is a fascinating novel, filled with extraordinary, well-realized historical characters and a plot that is engrossing and wickedly clever... kept me turning the pages to the very end. --Douglas Preston, coauthor of The Monster of Florence Fascinating. The sheer imagination and considerable research that has gone into this book will ensure its place as an important historical novel of Renaissance Italy. --The Newark Star-Ledger For readers who've been waiting all these years for the next The Name of the Rose --here it is. Michael Ennis brings a scholar's mind and a writer's heart to this beautifully crafted work of Renaissance intrigue. . . . A powerful thinking man's thriller. --Glenn Cooper, author of Library of the Dead and Book of Souls A richly textured, sweeping historical novel with some of the most memorable characters you'd want to meet. . . . Will satisfy the most discriminating devotee of historical fiction. --The Huntington News (Huntington, WV)

Author Information

Michael Ennis taught art history at the University of Texas, developed museum programs as a Rockefeller Foundation Fellow, and worked as an independent curator and consultant. He is the author of two historical novels, The Duchess of Milan and Byzantium. He has written for Esquire and Architectural Digest, and is a regular contributor to Texas Monthly. He lives in Dallas with his television producer wife, Ellen, and their daughter, Arielle.

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