The Mosaic Crimes (A Dante Alighieri Mystery) - Hardcover

Leoni, Giulio

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0151012466 ISBN 13: 9780151012466

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH), 2007

Synopsis

Florence, June 1300. The body of an artist, his face covered in quicklime, is discovered next to the mosaic he had almost completed. Dante Alighieri, the newly appointed prior of the city of Florence (and the man who will one day write that exhaustive treatise on criminology, the Inferno), is on the case. It is his first official investigation. Obscure clues lead him up and down the streets of Florence, following a trail full of intrigue and mystery. Why have seven scholars, each a master of his art, assembled in the city? What was the secret that might have been revealed had the artist lived to complete his work? Was it an alchemist’s formula to transform lead into gold? Did it have to do with Antilia, wild and beautiful, who dances nightly in a tavern owned by a one-armed crusader? Or perhaps with another elusive Beatrice, the heiress to the imperial Swabian throne, whose rumored arrival in the city could upset the political aspirations of Pope Boniface, Dante’s nemesis?  Leoni’s voice is wry and irreverent as he pokes fun at the genius poet and renders Dante a human being—brilliant but temperamental, bumbling but undaunted. An enthralling historical thriller from Italy’s new maestro of crime.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

An enthralling historical thriller from Italy’s new maestro of crime...

Florence, June 1300. The body of an artist, his face covered in quicklime, is discovered next to the mosaic he had almost completed. What was the secret that might have been revealed had the artist lived to complete his work?

Dante Alighieri, the newly appointed prior of the city of Florence, who will one day author the Inferno, is on the case in his first investigation. Soon he finds himself entangled with the mysterious group of scholars who make up the so-called "Third Heaven." Are they the key to the mosaicist’s murder and the corrupt underbelly of the city?

"Beautifully written, thoroughly researched, and genuinely suspenseful . . . Leoni's book reminds us that we have more in common with the Middle Ages than simple murder and mayhem." ?The Philadelphia Inquirer

GIULIO LEONI is a novelist, critic, and professor of Italian literature. He was awarded the Premio Tedeschi for best debut crime novel of the year. He lives in Rome.

About the Author:

GIULIO LEONI won the Premio Tedeschi for best new crime novel in 2000. He lives in Rome.

About this edition

• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH)
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0151012466
• ISBN 13: 9780151012466
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 321