he second instalment in a prize-winning series charting the rise of the House of Medici as they become Masters of Florence and progenitors of the Renaissance.

Florence, 1469. The Medici family is preparing for the marriage of its son and heir Lorenzo. His heart belongs to another, but this union will strengthen the alliance with a powerful Roman family.

Torn between love and power, the bounties and the compromises of governing, Lorenzo has become complacent. He has forgotten the bloody path he forged on his ascent to power, and the enemies left in his wake.

When the family's historical enemies and shadowy new conspirators put their bloody plot into action, the consequences will be terrible. In order to protect their supremacy, the Medici will enact a violent vengeance from which few will be spared.

PRAISE FOR MATTEO STRUKUL: 'Strukul has a brilliant style and a rare imagination' Tim Willocks, bestselling author of Green River Rising.

'Matteo Strukul is one of the most important new voices in Italian crime fiction' Joe R. Lansdale, Edgar Winner for The Bottoms.