Justin Ellis

Death by the Arno Justin Ellis

As a City struggles to recover from severe austerity measures imposed by the previous regime, it is hit by a crime-wave. One of the City's leading figures is murdered, and all the evidence points to Donato, a gifted young artist who has just arrived from out of town, as the culprit. Florence, 1504. Leonardo's Mona Lisa and Michelangelo's statue of David are completed as the Renaissance reaches its peak. The City, however, is in turmoil following frequent and violent regime changes. Donato finds himself caught up in the crime-wave that is destabilising the City, and in a murder plot involving both Leonardo and Michelangelo. Niccolò Machiavelli has been charged by the government with leading the investigation. Can he solve the puzzle of who lies behind the crimes in time to save one of the artists and the City itself?