It’s 1498 in Venice, Italy. Luciano is a homeless street beggar. He survives by pickpocketing and stealing food from street merchants. Until one day he is literally dragged from the streets by the Ferro, the top chef to the Doge. Luciano is brought into the Doge’s palace as an apprentice to Ferro. He goes from begging for his meals to three hot meals a day and a warm, dry place to sleep.
Luciano witnesses a murder and immediately reports it to the Chef. The Chef doesn’t seem to be very surprised. There has been discussion about a mysterious book of knowledge, a book that, among many things, reportedly has a spell for everlasting life. The doge, suffering from syphilis, becomes obsessed with finding the location of this book. The Catholic Church wants to obtain it because it’s said to contain the missing books of the Bible, and if these land in the wrong hands, the Church will lose it’s strength over the populace. And finally, Luciano himself is interested in the “love potion” the book purportedly contains, for he has fallen in love with Francesca, a young nun.
Luciano soon learns that book everyone is searching for is not some spell book, but one that is right under their noses.
The Book of Unholy Mischief
Critiques of this book mentioned its similarities to The DaVinci Code. I don’t believe this to be a fair comparison, for The Book of Unholy Mischief
Bottom line, this is a book I waited far to long to discover!
Thank you to the author for providing a copy of this book for me to review!
Oh! A good DaVinci Code sounds like something I would like. And the food descriptions . .. good thing I'm no longer on Game On!
I didn't even think of this as similar to the Da Vinci Code. It felt so much richer and the fact that it's historical fiction rather than a thriller made me completely unaware of that comparison. I really enjoyed this book though, the food descriptions in particular.
I'm touring this at the end of the month and now I can't wait to read it.
I've never heard the criticism that this book is like the Da Vinci Code, but I completely don't agree! I enjoyed this book very much, especially the vivid descriptions of food. Nice review!
LOL with Beth Fish … I was thinking the same thing (I would have eaten the book if I read it during Game On).
I especially like the last sentence of your review, that this is a book you waited far too long to discover … now THAT'S a recommendation!