Posts by Vicki J Kondelik

This is the latest in a series of British village mysteries, set in Cornwall, England in the early 1970s. The two protagonists, widow Eleanor Trewynn and her niece, Detective Sergeant Megan Pencarrow, hunt for spies at a peace conference and track down two criminals who have kidnapped Megan's almost-boyfriend Nick and a lawyer who's an acquaintance of Eleanor's. This series is perfect for fans of Agatha Christie.

Historian Catherine Fletcher tells the fascinating story of Alessandro de' Medici, the first Duke of Florence and arguably the first person of African descent to rule a European state.

This historical novel tells the story of the brilliant Renaissance artist Fra Filippo Lippi and Lucrezia Buti, the woman who inspired him.

In the latest entry in Alan Bradley's mystery series featuring Flavia de Luce, a twelve-year-old chemistry genius in 1950s England, Flavia returns to England after being expelled from a boarding school in Canada and finds out her father is ill with pneumonia. Her sisters give her a less than warm welcome, and to get away from the house, she carries a letter from the vicar's wife to a wood-carver, only to find the man dead, hanging upside-down from his bedroom door. She conducts her own investigation of the murder, and finds a connection between the murdered man and an author of children's poetry, who also died mysteriously.

The Unwilling Vestal is a historical novel, originally published in 1918, about Brinnaria, a young girl in ancient Rome who is forced to become a Vestal virgin after she refuses to marry the man her father has chosen for her. During her thirty years of service as a Vestal virgin, she is determined to stay true to the man she loves and marry him at the end of her service. But her rejected suitor threatens to have her accused of breaking her vows, and the emperor Commodus (who may be familiar to you as the villain of the movie Gladiator) will go along with the accusation unless Brinnaria proves her innocence. The Unwilling Vestal still reads well, and is full of fascinating details about ancient Rome.

Brunelleschi's Dome tells the story of one of the greatest achievements in architecture, the dome of the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, better known as the Duomo, in Florence, and of Filippo Brunelleschi, the irascible genius who created it. Author Ross King details Brunelleschi's many inventions, including his few failures, and his rivalry with another great artist, Lorenzo Ghiberti.

The House of the Vestals is a collection of nine short mystery stories featuring Steven Saylor's ancient Roman detective, Gordianus the Finder. The stories are meant to fill a gap between the first two books of the series, and they introduce some of the regular characters. They illustrate many fascinating aspects of Roman society, including the theater, the belief in ghosts, and holidays.

In Habitual Offenders, historian Craig A. Monson tells the true story of the murder of two former prostitutes turned nuns who fled from their convent in 17th century Italy. This is a compelling historical whodunit. Although it is non-fiction, it reads like a novel, with dialogue taken from the actual transcript of the trial of the prime suspects: the nuns' supposed lovers and the right-hand man of a powerful cardinal. Eventually, the web of intrigue stretches as far as Cardinal Mazarin and the court of Louis XIV.

SPQR is a history of ancient Rome, from 753 BCE, the supposed date of its founding, to 212 CE, when the emperor Caracalla granted Roman citizenship to all free inhabitants of the empire. Historian Mary Beard combines the political history of Rome, with famous names such as Julius Caesar and Augustus, with the lives of ordinary people, including women and slaves. She writes in a compelling style that makes the history of ancient Rome come alive.

A Great Reckoning is the latest entry in Louise Penny's popular series, set in the tiny Québec village of Three Pines, featuring Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, who comes out of retirement to lead the Sûreté Academy. When the brutal former head of the Academy is found murdered in his rooms, Gamache becomes a suspect. Meanwhile, Gamache's wife Reine-Marie and her friends find an old map of Three Pines buried in a wall, and Gamache enlists the help of four young cadets to help solve the mystery of why the village has been erased from all official maps of Québec.