Posts by Vicki J Kondelik

In this second book in Donna Leon's mystery series featuring Commissario Guido Brunetti of the Venice police, Brunetti investigates the murder of an American soldier in Venice. At first it seems that the man was the victim of a robbery, but Brunetti uncovers a conspiracy involving the dumping of toxic waste. It seems the Italian government, the American military, and the Mafia are all involved, and Brunetti risks offending the rich and powerful as he works to solve the murder.

Lucrezia Tornabuoni de' Medici is the biography of an extraordinary Renaissance woman, the mother of Lorenzo de' Medici, ruler of Florence in the fifteenth century. Lucrezia was a skilled businesswoman who influenced the policies of both her husband and her son, as well as being a poet and a patron of the arts. She was closely acquainted with some of the greatest Renaissance artists, including Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo.

Daughter of Venice is a novel about Donata, a young woman from a noble family in 16th century Venice, who has to enter a convent because her father cannot afford a dowry for her. She doesn't want to spend her life in a convent, so she dresses up as a boy and explores Venice, eventually falling in love with a Jewish man, who doesn't know who she really is. Will she tell him her secret? And will they be allowed to be together?

The Prophet is a mystery set in a small Ohio town about two estranged brothers, one a bail bondsman and the other a high school football coach, whose sister was murdered as a teenager. When another teenage girl is murdered, the wounds of the past resurface and the two brothers must work together to catch a killer.

The Rival Queens is an entertainingly-written biography of two powerful women in 16th century France: the ruthless Catherine de' Medici, Queen of France, who ruled the country for decades during the reigns of three of her sons, and her youngest daughter, the intelligent, courageous Marguerite de Valois, Queen of Navarre.

Signora da Vinci is an imaginative retelling, more fantasy than historical fiction, of the life of Leonardo da Vinci's mother, Caterina. In Robin Maxwell's novel, Caterina is the daughter of an alchemist/apothecary in a small town near Florence. After a brief romance with Piero da Vinci, a young man from a much wealthier family, she gives birth to Leonardo, who is taken away by his father's family the day after his birth. In order to be near her son, Caterina disguises herself as a man and goes to Florence, where she has many adventures and takes delight in her brilliant son's art and inventions.

In Roman Blood, the first of a mystery series by Steven Saylor, Gordianus the Finder, an ancient Roman detective, helps Cicero defend a man accused of killing his father. But he finds evidence that might lead to trouble with a cruel dictator. The series is rich with details of the daily life, the political intrigues, and the legal system of Rome.

Suspense and Sensibility is part of a mystery series where Fitzwilliam and Elizabeth Darcy from Pride and Prejudice meet characters from Jane Austen's other novels. Kitty Bennet from Pride and Prejudice becomes engaged to Harry Dashwood from Sense and Sensibility, but he begins acting strangely as soon as they announce their engagement. Do an antique mirror and a portrait of a roguish ancestor have to do with it?

Tasha Alexander's mystery series features an unconventional Victorian widow, Lady Emily Ashton. In this, the third book in the series, a murder investigation leads Emily to the cafes and glittering ballrooms of 1890s Vienna.

Global Jane Austen is a collection of essays that examines the relationship between Austen’s admirers and her works, all over the world. It includes articles about websites and works of fan fiction devoted to her and her characters, adaptations of her works, the tourist industry in the places where she lived, and responses to her novels in non-English speaking countries.