I received a free copy of The Hearts of All on Fire by Alana White from Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours. All opinions are my own.
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About The Hearts of All on Fire:
Florence, 1473. An impossible murder. A bitter rivalry. A serpent in the ranks.
Florentine investigator Guid’Antonio Vespucci returns to Florence from a government mission to find his dreams of success shattered. Life is good-but then a wealthy merchant dies from mushroom poisoning at Guid’Antonio’s Saint John’s Day table, and Guid’Antonio’s servant is charged with murder. Convinced of the youth’s innocence and fearful the killer may strike again, Guid’Antonio launches a private investigation into the merchant’s death, unaware that at the same time powerful enemies are conspiring to overthrow the Florentine Republic-and him.
A clever, richly evocative tale for lovers of medieval and Renaissance mysteries everywhere, The Hearts of All on Fire is a timeless story of family relationships coupled with themes of love, loss, betrayal and, above all, hope in a challenging world.
You can purchase The Hearts of All on Fire at Amazon.com
About the Author:
Alana White’s passion for Renaissance Italy has taken her to Florence for research on the Vespucci and Medici families on numerous occasions. There along cobbled streets unchanged over the centuries, she traces their footsteps, listening to their imagined voices: Guid’Antonio Vespucci, Sandro Botticelli, Michelangelo, Lorenzo de’ Medici.
Alana’s first short story featuring real-life fifteenth-century lawyer Guid’Antonio Vespucci and his favorite nephew, Amerigo Vespucci, was a Macavity Award finalist and led to the Guid’Antonio Vespucci Mystery Series featuring “The Sign of the Weeping Virgin” (Book I) and “The Hearts of All on Fire” (Book II), with Book III Coming Soon.
She is a member of the Authors Guild, Sisters in Crime, the Women’s National Book Association, and the Historical Novel Society. Alana loves hearing from readers, and you can contact her at her website. There, you will find Guid’Antonio’s likeness as his contemporary, Domenico Ghirlandaio, depicted him in the Sistine Chapel, along with other images and tales of 1400s Italy.
Alana’s articles and book reviews appear regularly in the “Historical Novels Review.”
In children’s books (Middle Grade), she is the author of “Come Next Spring”, a coming-of-age novel set in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee in the 1940s, and a biography, “Sacagawea: Westward with Lewis and Clark.” www.alanawhite.com
My Opinion:
We have an exciting new hero solving crimes in my favorite time period – the Renaissance. Guid’Antonio Vespucci is a wealthy merchant but finds himself – or more truthfully, his servant – in trouble when a guest at a dinner dies from eating bad mushrooms. But what forces are conspiring to kill and why?
Since Guid’Antonio is convinced his servant is innocent he embarks on a journey to determine who IS guilty and exactly why his guest was targeted at his table. What follows is eminently readable and entertaining novel that takes the reader through the streets of Renaissance Florence.
It was a book that kept my attention and interest as I am a great lover of all things Renaissance Italy – especially her art and artists so having a book in that time period has automatic appeal for me. It did not disappoint in descriptive power and I loved traveling back in time.
Rating:
4.5
