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Basilica Diaries Medieval Mysteries #2
Palette of Blood
Join this brother and sister team in another thrilling Renaissance murder mystery! Perfect for fans of Lindsey Davis, Steven Saylor and David Wishart.
The Borgias and Medicis are going head to head…
1503, Rome
Power has shifted among the great families, and a new Pope has been elected.
Julius II is determined to cement his place in history by redesigning the magnificent St Peter’s Basilica and he issues a challenge to the leading artists to submit their designs.
Aware that there are rich pickings to be had from such an ambitious project, Rome’s most powerful families each back different artists, hoping to get a monopoly on valuable building contracts.
But before a winner is picked, a shocking murder disrupts proceedings.
Prominent lawyer Antonio Ricardo is found brutally dismembered next to a magnificent work of art he commissioned.
And the killings don’t stop there…
Is one of the famously ruthless families behind the killings? Could it all be a dark campaign to scare off the rival bids?
Head of Security at the Vatican, Domenico Falchoni and his astute sister Cristina are determined to get to the bottom of the mystery.
But with the reputations of the most powerful families at stake, can they stop the deaths without putting their own lives on the line…?
PALETTE OF BLOOD is the second book in the Basilica Diaries Medieval Mysteries series: historical thrillers set in fifteenth-century Rome and featuring a brother and sister investigative duo.
THE BASILICA DIARIES MEDIEVAL MYSTERIES SERIES:
BOOK 1: Omens of Death
BOOK 2: Palette of Blood
The Borgias and Medicis are going head to head…
1503, Rome
Power has shifted among the great families, and a new Pope has been elected.
Julius II is determined to cement his place in history by redesigning the magnificent St Peter’s Basilica and he issues a challenge to the leading artists to submit their designs.
Aware that there are rich pickings to be had from such an ambitious project, Rome’s most powerful families each back different artists, hoping to get a monopoly on valuable building contracts.
But before a winner is picked, a shocking murder disrupts proceedings.
Prominent lawyer Antonio Ricardo is found brutally dismembered next to a magnificent work of art he commissioned.
And the killings don’t stop there…
Is one of the famously ruthless families behind the killings? Could it all be a dark campaign to scare off the rival bids?
Head of Security at the Vatican, Domenico Falchoni and his astute sister Cristina are determined to get to the bottom of the mystery.
But with the reputations of the most powerful families at stake, can they stop the deaths without putting their own lives on the line…?
PALETTE OF BLOOD is the second book in the Basilica Diaries Medieval Mysteries series: historical thrillers set in fifteenth-century Rome and featuring a brother and sister investigative duo.
THE BASILICA DIARIES MEDIEVAL MYSTERIES SERIES:
BOOK 1: Omens of Death
BOOK 2: Palette of Blood
301 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 14, 2023
53 people are currently reading
29 people want to read
About the author
Richard Kurti
25 books36 followersIn another life, I’d love to have been a clockmaker.
It’s not enough that a clock is a beautiful object, it also has to work – it needs to keep accurate time, month after month.
This is what attracted me to screenwriting, which is where I started as a professional writer. Screenplays have to tell moving, exciting, engaging stories, but they are also incredibly complex and very technical machines that are blueprints for the entire production.
When I ventured into the world of novel writing, I tried to bring some of the lessons I’d learnt in screenwriting with me…
High Concept
I always try to find a big idea to put at the heart of a novel.
It needs to be complex enough to resonate with different characters and situations, but it also needs to be clear enough to immediately take hold of your imagination.
Plot-Character-Plot-Character
To me, they’re very similar things.
Plots only happen because characters are striving for something; at the same time, characters are defined by what they actually do in different circumstances.
Mechanics
This is all about using different techniques to create the most dramatic and gripping story. Often it’s about knowing where to end a scene, or when to reveal information, or the ordering of different events. It’s a bit like playing a massive game of hide and seek with the reader!
Did I succeed?
Let me know what you think through Goodreads, or with a Tweet to @Richard_Kurti
Instagram: RichardKurtiWriter
It’s not enough that a clock is a beautiful object, it also has to work – it needs to keep accurate time, month after month.
This is what attracted me to screenwriting, which is where I started as a professional writer. Screenplays have to tell moving, exciting, engaging stories, but they are also incredibly complex and very technical machines that are blueprints for the entire production.
When I ventured into the world of novel writing, I tried to bring some of the lessons I’d learnt in screenwriting with me…
High Concept
I always try to find a big idea to put at the heart of a novel.
It needs to be complex enough to resonate with different characters and situations, but it also needs to be clear enough to immediately take hold of your imagination.
Plot-Character-Plot-Character
To me, they’re very similar things.
Plots only happen because characters are striving for something; at the same time, characters are defined by what they actually do in different circumstances.
Mechanics
This is all about using different techniques to create the most dramatic and gripping story. Often it’s about knowing where to end a scene, or when to reveal information, or the ordering of different events. It’s a bit like playing a massive game of hide and seek with the reader!
Did I succeed?
Let me know what you think through Goodreads, or with a Tweet to @Richard_Kurti
Instagram: RichardKurtiWriter
Ratings & Reviews
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Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
June 1, 2023
Palette of Blood is the second volume in the Basilica Diaries Medieval Mysteries series. It doesn't actually include any diaries (so far), but it's built around an engaging central topic the building of St. Peter's Basilica, the second one, the one now standing in Vatican City, which was built on top of the first St. Peter's Basilica.
I found Palette of Blood so engaging, that I immediately read the first volume in the series and have the upcoming third volume on order. In the afterward of the first volume, author Richard Kurti explains his motivation in pursuing this topic, "As the magnificent St. Peter's Basilica rises from the dirt, stone by stone, our characters will wrestle with problems that still resonate with life in the 21st Century—religious extremism, corruption, gaslighting, the abuse of learning, the search for fulfillment."
Like building the basilica itself, this series is a complex undertaking. In the late 15th Century the remarkably corrupt—even in an era of remarkable corruption—Pope Alexander VI, Rodrigo Borgia, finds his proposed basilica project and his own life under threat as a series of violent events sweep across Rome. A notorious libertine is found crucified upside down, an entire community of monks is struck blind, a fireball erupts in a church, killing and wounding many, and the son of the Pope (there's that corruption thing) is brutally murdered.
The head of Vatican security, Domenico Falchoni, calls on his sister Cristina to aid in investigations. Asking a woman to investigate violent crimes at the close of the 15th Century sounds unusual and unlikely, but Cristina is an unusual woman. She lives alone in the family's city home, determined to remain unmarried, and dedicating her life to the pursuit of knowledge. Her library is huge, she's been tutored by some of the best minds of the time, and once she sets out to solve a puzzle, she's relentless. Cristina is determined to see the new St. Peter's built—which makes her even further driven to unravel the series of crimes.
The crucifixion /blindness/fireball/murder book is the first in the series, Omens of Death. The second title, which I'm actually reviewing here, Palette of Blood takes place as designs for the new basilica are being considered. Each powerful family in Rome is backing a different artist/architect, and hoping to profit from the construction, which will take years and involve huge sums of money.
Unfortunately, shortly before the designs are to be presented to the Pope a wealthy banker is murdered and the bizarre crime scene involves not only his dismemberment, but also the destruction of a large portrait of Christ as the Salvator Mundi, and cryptic painting done at the crime scene in the victim's own blood. The artist who painted Salvator Mund is one of the artists being backed as a possible designer of the basilica. Then another murder occurs, this time at the site of a fountain designed by the same artist.
Cristina is again worried that construction of the basilica may be delayed or stopped due to the violence, so she joins her brother in looking for the killer. At the same time, she is being courted by the artist whose works have become crime scenes.
I thoroughly enjoyed both books, but I found Palette of Blood somewhat more successful than Omens of Death, which I think is a good sign. The series is growing stronger; readers have even better work to look forward to. You can read these two books in any order, neither is utterly dependent on the other. And if you read them soon, you'll be prepared for the appearance of Demon of Truth, the next volume in the series.
I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley; the opinions are my own.
I found Palette of Blood so engaging, that I immediately read the first volume in the series and have the upcoming third volume on order. In the afterward of the first volume, author Richard Kurti explains his motivation in pursuing this topic, "As the magnificent St. Peter's Basilica rises from the dirt, stone by stone, our characters will wrestle with problems that still resonate with life in the 21st Century—religious extremism, corruption, gaslighting, the abuse of learning, the search for fulfillment."
Like building the basilica itself, this series is a complex undertaking. In the late 15th Century the remarkably corrupt—even in an era of remarkable corruption—Pope Alexander VI, Rodrigo Borgia, finds his proposed basilica project and his own life under threat as a series of violent events sweep across Rome. A notorious libertine is found crucified upside down, an entire community of monks is struck blind, a fireball erupts in a church, killing and wounding many, and the son of the Pope (there's that corruption thing) is brutally murdered.
The head of Vatican security, Domenico Falchoni, calls on his sister Cristina to aid in investigations. Asking a woman to investigate violent crimes at the close of the 15th Century sounds unusual and unlikely, but Cristina is an unusual woman. She lives alone in the family's city home, determined to remain unmarried, and dedicating her life to the pursuit of knowledge. Her library is huge, she's been tutored by some of the best minds of the time, and once she sets out to solve a puzzle, she's relentless. Cristina is determined to see the new St. Peter's built—which makes her even further driven to unravel the series of crimes.
The crucifixion /blindness/fireball/murder book is the first in the series, Omens of Death. The second title, which I'm actually reviewing here, Palette of Blood takes place as designs for the new basilica are being considered. Each powerful family in Rome is backing a different artist/architect, and hoping to profit from the construction, which will take years and involve huge sums of money.
Unfortunately, shortly before the designs are to be presented to the Pope a wealthy banker is murdered and the bizarre crime scene involves not only his dismemberment, but also the destruction of a large portrait of Christ as the Salvator Mundi, and cryptic painting done at the crime scene in the victim's own blood. The artist who painted Salvator Mund is one of the artists being backed as a possible designer of the basilica. Then another murder occurs, this time at the site of a fountain designed by the same artist.
Cristina is again worried that construction of the basilica may be delayed or stopped due to the violence, so she joins her brother in looking for the killer. At the same time, she is being courted by the artist whose works have become crime scenes.
I thoroughly enjoyed both books, but I found Palette of Blood somewhat more successful than Omens of Death, which I think is a good sign. The series is growing stronger; readers have even better work to look forward to. You can read these two books in any order, neither is utterly dependent on the other. And if you read them soon, you'll be prepared for the appearance of Demon of Truth, the next volume in the series.
I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley; the opinions are my own.
April 17, 2023
The second book in the historical mystery series featuring brother and sister, Domenico and Cristina Falchoni. This story is set in Rome in 1503, six years after the first book. A new pope has been elected and there is hope that the building of the new basilica will now be underway. Unfortunately, the murders of the patrons of one of the artists bidding for the commission threaten the process and Domenico, with the help of his sister, is charged with solving the crime.
I found the first book entertaining, but I had some reservations. I was looking forward to reading the second book, in the hope that it would dispel those reservations. Unfortunately, I was let down. Whilst the plot is entertaining, I found the historical setting to be badly represented. There was no sense of the time period, the historical facts are not backed up by any atmosphere. In fact, the writing style and the character of Cristina were far too modern and anachronistic for my liking. Other characters were not fully developed. Cristina's brother is very one-dimensional in this book and only had a minor role in the story. All in all, I was left feeling disappointed with the series.
I received a free review copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for my honest and unedited review.
I found the first book entertaining, but I had some reservations. I was looking forward to reading the second book, in the hope that it would dispel those reservations. Unfortunately, I was let down. Whilst the plot is entertaining, I found the historical setting to be badly represented. There was no sense of the time period, the historical facts are not backed up by any atmosphere. In fact, the writing style and the character of Cristina were far too modern and anachronistic for my liking. Other characters were not fully developed. Cristina's brother is very one-dimensional in this book and only had a minor role in the story. All in all, I was left feeling disappointed with the series.
I received a free review copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for my honest and unedited review.
May 22, 2023
Starting out with lush art, landscape and architecture descriptions, this books drops the reader directly into Renaissance Rome with a series of gruesome murders. The murder is pretty slight-the reader will have a pretty good idea who the killer is simply because they are the only one who isn't a real historical figure. However, the setting is the gem here and the reader can enjoy being immersed into a historical world.
Unfortunately, the killer is caught 60% of the way into the book and, at that point, the book grinds to a halt as his motives are examined. Definitely an enjoyable read, but I hope future works in the series will have slightly better pacing.
(A note on the series title of "medieval": 1503 Rome is right smack in the middle of the Renaissance so I'm not sure why it's called Medieval.)
Unfortunately, the killer is caught 60% of the way into the book and, at that point, the book grinds to a halt as his motives are examined. Definitely an enjoyable read, but I hope future works in the series will have slightly better pacing.
(A note on the series title of "medieval": 1503 Rome is right smack in the middle of the Renaissance so I'm not sure why it's called Medieval.)
May 3, 2023
A great new entry into this medieval crime mystery genre. That is only what I can say about it. On the things it had to deliver, it delivered. And on the things it did not had to deliver, it didn't.
The reason I gave it 4 stars is just because I thought the plot was very generic and the mystery could be seen a hundred pages before it actually happened. Other than that, it is an exceptional book and a worthwhile read.
The reason I gave it 4 stars is just because I thought the plot was very generic and the mystery could be seen a hundred pages before it actually happened. Other than that, it is an exceptional book and a worthwhile read.
May 19, 2023
Art & Crime
Art and crime, the perfect combination with which to form the basis of an interesting story. Then you add the Vatican of yesteryear and you have an enjoyable book to read.
Art and crime, the perfect combination with which to form the basis of an interesting story. Then you add the Vatican of yesteryear and you have an enjoyable book to read.
May 25, 2023
An enjoyable and compelling historical mystery that mixes fiction and historical characters.
The mystery is a bit light but entertaining, the historical background is well researched and vivid.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine
The mystery is a bit light but entertaining, the historical background is well researched and vivid.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine
July 28, 2023
1503 Rome. The newly elected pope Julius II has commissioned artists to design the St. Peter's Basilica. When the first backer of one of the artists is discovered multilated Cristinia and her brother Domenico Falchoni investigate.
An entertaining and interesting historical mystery with its likeable characters.
An entertaining and interesting historical mystery with its likeable characters.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews