The Malice of Fortune

The Malice of Fortune
Author: Michael Ennis
Publisher: Anchor
Total Pages: 417
Release: 2012-09-11
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0385536321

Against a teeming canvas of Borgia politics, Niccolò Machiavelli and Leonardo da Vinci come together to unmask an enigmatic serial killer, as we learn the secret history behind one of the most controversial works in the western canon, The Prince... When Pope Alexander dispatches a Vatican courtesan, Damiata, to the remote fortress city of Imola to learn the truth behind the murder of Juan, his most beloved illegitimate son, she cannot fail, for the scheming Borgia pope holds her own young son hostage. Once there, Damiata becomes a pawn in the political intrigues of the pope’s surviving son, the charismatic Duke Valentino, whose own life is threatened by the condottieri, a powerful cabal of mercenary warlords. Damiata suspects that the killer she seeks is one of the brutal condottierri, and as the murders multiply, her quest grows more urgent. She enlists the help of an obscure Florentine diplomat, Niccolò Machiavelli, and Valentino’s eccentric military engineer, Leonardo da Vinci, who together must struggle to decipher the killer’s taunting riddles: Leonardo with his groundbreaking “science of observation” and Machiavelli with his new “science of men.” Traveling across an Italy torn apart by war, they will enter a labyrinth of ancient superstition and erotic obsession to discover at its center a new face of evil—and a truth that will shake the foundations of western civilization.

The Malice of Fortune

The Malice of Fortune
Author: Michael Ennis
Publisher: McClelland & Stewart
Total Pages: 417
Release: 2012-09-11
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0771030762

A sweeping, intense historical thriller starring two of the great minds of Renaissance Italy: Niccolò Machiavelli and Leonardo da Vinci. Based on a real historical mystery, and involving serial murder and a gruesome cat and mouse game at the highest levels of the Church -- it was the era of the infamous Borgias -- The Malice of Fortune is a delicious treat for fans of Umberto Eco, Sarah Dunant, and Elizabeth Kostova. This brilliant novel is an epic tale exploring the backdrop of the most controversial work of the Italian Renaissance, The Prince. Here, Niccolò Machiavelli, the great "scientist" of human behaviour becomes, in effect, the first criminal profiler, while his contemporary and sometime colleague, the erratic genius Leonardo da Vinci, brings his observational powers to the increasingly desperate hunt for a brilliant, terrifying serial murderer. Their foil and partner is the exquisite Damiata, scholar and courtesan. All three know their quarry is someone who holds enormous power, both to tear Italy apart, and destroy each of their most beloved dreams. And every thrilling step is based on historical fact.

The Malice of Fortune

The Malice of Fortune
Author: Steve White
Publisher: Baen Books
Total Pages: 222
Release: 2021-01-18
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1625798180

WHEN LADY FORTUNE SMILES DAGGERS What if the past is merely a playground for the future? In a new, evolving timeline, Cesare Borgia did not follow a path that led to a fatal ambush and unfulfilled ambitions, but instead employs Leonardo Da Vinci’s visionary war machines—only ideas in a notebook in our own timeline—and the sly wisdom of Niccolò Machiavelli—who suffered years of disgrace in “regular” history—in a rolling effort to unify the contentious city states of Italy. From there Borgia hopes to create a powerful Renaissance empire centuries in advance of the modern nation. But someone—or something—with shadowy motives and nefarious purposes may be aiding Borgia every step of the way. And when a beautiful operative from a future that may never be shows up to set things right, the stakes become human freedom itself in a transformed future! At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management). About Steve White “Creative . . . White seamlessly inserts his characters into history, blending science fiction and vintage military action to deliver a fast-paced, high-stakes story. The time travel leads to a twisty, clever series of surprises and plot mechanics.” —Publishers Weekly on Soldiers out of Time “White offers fast action and historically informed world-building.” —Publishers Weekly “. . . recalls the best of the John Campbell era of SF. White's core audience of hard SF fans will be pleased . . .” —Publishers Weekly “. . . Engaging entertainment . . . much suspense and many well-handled action scenes . . .” —Booklist

"M" is for Malice

Author: Sue Grafton
Publisher: Holt Paperbacks
Total Pages: 313
Release: 1996-11-15
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1429913053

Brace yourself for an "Electrifying and thoroughly satisfying" read (Publishers Weekly) from #1 New York Times bestselling author Sue Grafton "M" is for money. Lots of it. "M" is for Malek Construction, the $40 million company that grew out of modest soil to become one of the big three in California construction, one of the few still in family hands. "M" is for the Malek family: four sons now nearing middle age who stand to inherit a fortune--four men with very different outlooks, temperaments, and needs, linked only by blood and money. Eighteen years ago, one of them--angry, troubled, and in trouble--went missing. "M" is for Millhone, hired to trace that missing black sheep brother. "M" is for memories, none of them happy. The bitter memories of an embattled family. This prodigal son will find no welcome at his family's table. "M" is for malice. And in brutal consequence, "M" is for murder, the all-too-common outcome of familial hatreds. "M" is for malice . . . and malice kills. "A" Is for Alibi "B" Is for Burglar "C" Is for Corpse "D" Is for Deadbeat "E" Is for Evidence "F" Is for Fugitive "G" Is for Gumshoe "H" Is for Homicide "I" Is for Innocent "J" Is for Judgment "K" Is for Killer "L" is for Lawless "M" Is for Malice "N" Is for Noose "O" Is for Outlaw "P" Is for Peril "Q" Is for Quarry "R" Is for Ricochet "S" Is for Silence "T" Is for Trespass "U" Is for Undertow "V" Is for Vengeance "W" Is for Wasted "X"

In Malice, Quite Close

In Malice, Quite Close
Author: Brandi Lynn Ryder
Publisher: Penguin Group
Total Pages: 402
Release: 2012-07-31
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0143121170

A sophisticated mystery debut in which priceless art and unspeakable desires converge When French expatriate Tristan Mourault becomes enamored with fifteen-year-old Karen Miller, he "rescues" her from her working-class circumstances and stages her death to mask his true crime. Years later, Karen is now "Gisèle" and lives with Tristan in rarefied Devon, Washington. She has married another man to keep up appearances, but when her daughter stumbles upon a secret cache of paintings—all nudes of Gisèle—Tristan's carefully curated world begins to crumble. Set against a byzantine backdrop of greed, artifice, and manipulation—with tantalizing echoes of Lolita—In Malice, Quite Close keeps its most devastating secrets right up until the very last page.

The Alchemist of Fire and Fortune

The Alchemist of Fire and Fortune
Author: Gigi Pandian
Publisher: Gargoyle Girl Productions
Total Pages: 299
Release: 2021-10-05
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1938213157

The fifth book in the award-winning Accidental Alchemist Mystery Series by USA Today bestselling author Gigi Pandian. A blackmailer obsessed with gold. A boyfriend who’s more than he seems. And a treasure hidden on the Oregon coast. Alchemist Zoe Faust’s mentor Nicolas Flamel is back in her life, but catching up with him will have to wait. An elusive blackmailer has threatened to expose a dangerous alchemical secret. Zoe’s boyfriend is out of town protecting secrets of his own. So when rumors of a treasure map reach Zoe, she turns her back on what sounds like no more than a game. Zoe’s mischievous living gargoyle best friend Dorian, who thinks of himself as a modern-day Poirot, is convinced the map is real—and that it’s the key to proving himself as valuable to Zoe as her human family. With the help of the neighborhood teenagers, Dorian sets out to find the treasure, risking more than he planned in the process. Rumors, treasures, and secrets intersect to unearth more than Zoe could have dreamed—and could leave her family changed forever. Can Zoe stop the threat to the family unit she’s created?

A Town Called Malice

A Town Called Malice
Author: Adam Abramowitz
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2019-03-19
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1250076307

"A crafty plot and a nuanced look at gentrified Boston lifts Abramowitz’s impressive second mystery featuring bike messenger and would-be stand-up comic Zesty Meyers (after 2017’s Bosstown)." —Publishers Weekly, Starred Review A bike messenger navigates Boston’s gritty underworld of gangsters and blood money in this novel with more twists and turns than Boston’s streets, in Adam Abramowitz's A Town Called Malice. Boston’s fastest-talking, baddest bike messenger Zesty Meyers is back in town...Bosstown. Boston’s Big Dig has put a brand new shine on the city, its once insular neighborhoods awash with new money and runaway development. Not everybody is happy with the change. Zesty is struggling to keep his courier business afloat and is falling behind on rent, while his brother, Zero, owner of a moving company stocked with ex-cons has hired an unemployed rabbi who begins to exert a strange influence on the family and delivers most of his sermons with his fists. When a rock and roll legend suspected of murdering his girlfriend reappears after thirty years on the run, Zesty is once again haunted by his family’s dark past and the mounting evidence that his father, Boston’s former Poker King now suffering from Alzheimer’s, has long been dealing from the bottom of the deck. From shady bars to college campus underground poker leagues, Zesty’s speeding toward trouble, desperately trying to map out a future in a town where stop signs are optional, signaling is for the weak and Karma lurks around every corner with payback on its mind.

A Stroke of Malice

A Stroke of Malice
Author: Anna Lee Huber
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 384
Release: 2020-04-07
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0451491394

Lady Kiera Darby and her husband Sebastian Gage are looking forward to celebrating with new friends at an exciting yearly soiree, but they soon learn that murder never takes a holiday in the latest riveting installment in this national bestselling series. January 1832. After enjoying a delightful few weeks with her family, expectant mother Kiera and Sebastian Gage have been invited to the Duchess of Bowmontʼs Twelfth Night party in Traquair, Scotland. Though she normally avoids such fashionable, rambunctious events, Kiera is ready to join in the festive merrymaking. But upon their arrival at the opulent estate, it becomes obvious that all is not merry in their hostess’s home. The family appears to be under a great strain, and someone seems determined to cause mayhem among the guests with a series of forged notes. Matters swiftly turn from irksome to downright deadly when the partygoers stumble upon a decomposing body in the castleʼs crypt. The corpse is thought to be the duchessʼs son-in-law who had purportedly traveled to Paris more than a month earlier. It is evident the man met with foul play, and Kiera and Gage soon realize that a ruthless murderer walks among them—and may well be a member of the duchessʼs own family. And when the investigation takes a treacherous turn, Kiera discovers just how deep the killer is willing to dig to keep their secrets from ever seeing the light of day.

Fools of Fortune

Fools of Fortune
Author: William Trevor
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 225
Release: 2006-04-25
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1101667214

Penguin Classics is proud to welcome William Trevor—"Ireland’s answer to Chekhov" (The Boston Globe) and "one of the best writers of our era" (The Washington Post)—to our distinguished list of literary masters. In this award-winning novel, an informer’s body is found on the estate of a wealthy Irish family shortly after the First World War, and an appalling cycle of revenge is set in motion. Led by a zealous sergeant, the Black and Tans set fire to the family home, and only young Willie and his mother escape alive. Fatherless, Willie grows into manhood while his alcoholic mother’s bitter resentment festers. And though he finds love, Willie is unable to leave the terrible injuries of the past behind. First time in Penguin Classics Winner of the Whitbread Novel of the Year Award

Muse

Muse
Author: Mary Novik
Publisher: Doubleday Canada
Total Pages: 315
Release: 2013-08-13
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0385668228

Richly engaging historical adventure in the vein of The Winter Palace and The Malice of Fortune. Muse is the story of the charismatic woman who was the inspiration behind Petrarch's sublime love poetry. Solange Le Blanc begins life in the tempestuous streets of 14th century Avignon, a city of men dominated by the Pope and his palace. When her mother, a harlot, dies in childbirth, Solange is raised by Benedictines who believe she has the gift of clairvoyance. Trained as a scribe, but troubled by disturbing visions and tempted by a more carnal life, she escapes to Avignon, where she becomes entangled in a love triangle with the poet Petrarch, becoming not only his muse but also his lover. Later, when her gift for prophecy catches the Pope's ear, Solange becomes Pope Clement VI's mistress and confidante in the most celebrated court in Europe. When the plague kills a third of Avignon's population, Solange is accused of sorcery and is forced once again to reinvent herself and fight against a final, mortal conspiracy. Muse is a sweeping historical epic that magically evokes the Renaissance, capturing a time and place caught between the shadows of the past and the promise of a new cultural awakening.