A Name In Blood


Matt Rees - 2012
    For the lowly artist Caravaggio, it is a place of rough bars, knife fights, and grubby whores. Until he is commissioned to paint the Pope...Soon, Caravaggio has gained entry into the Borgia family's inner circle, and becomes the most celebrated artist in Rome. But when he falls for Lena, a low-born fruit-seller, and paints her into his Madonna series as a simple peasant woman, Italian society is outraged. Discredited as an artist, but unwilling to retract his vision of the woman he loves, Caravaggio is forced into a duel - and murders a nobleman. Even his powerful patrons cannot protect him from a death sentence. So Caravaggio flees to Malta, where, before he can be pardoned, he must undergo the rigorous training of the Knights of Malta. His paintings continue to speak of his love for Lena. But before he can return to her, as a Knight and a noble, Caravaggio, the most famous artist in Italy - simply disappears...

The Painter of Souls


Philip Kazan - 2015
    He has a talent — not only can he see the beauty in everything, he can capture it, paint it. But while beauty can seduce you and art can transport you — it cannot always feed you or protect you.To survive, Pippo Lippi, orphan, street urchin, budding rogue, must first become Fra Filippo Lippi: Carmelite friar, man of God. His life will take him down two paths at once. He will become a gambler, a forger, a seducer of nuns; and at the same time he will be the greatest painter of his time, the teacher of Botticelli and the confidante of the Medicis.So who is he really — lover, believer, father, teacher, artist? Is anything true except the paintings?

The Sign of the Weeping Virgin


Alana White - 2012
    And then a holy painting begins weeping in Guid’Antonio’s church. Are the tears manmade or a sign of God’s displeasure with Guid’Antonio himself?In a finely wrought story for lovers of medieval and renaissance mysteries everywhere‚ Guid’Antonio follows a spellbinding trail of clues to uncover the thought-provoking truth about the missing girl and the weeping painting’s mystifying—and miraculous?—tears‚ all pursued as he comes face to face with his own personal demons.

Lady in Ermine — The Story of A Woman Who Painted the Renaissance: A Biographical Novel of Sofonisba Anguissola


Donna DiGiuseppe - 2020
    We watch as Sofonisba struggles to realize her dreams against the backdrop of patriarchal Europe. When Royal tragedy unfolds, we learn the true strength of our heroine.Romance, hardship, bankruptcy, and a legacy of hundreds of paintings that still influence today's artists. An authentic story of what it was like to be a woman of ambition in the Renaissance.History comes dramatically alive as we journey through the Renaissance with Sofonisba Anguissola.This is her story.

The Giant: A Novel of Michelangelo's David


Laura Morelli - 2020
    Fresco painter Jacopo Torni longs to make his mark in the world. But while his peers enjoy prestigious commissions, his meager painting jobs are all earmarked to pay down gambling debts.When Jacopo hears of a competition to create Florence's greatest sculpture, he pins all his hopes on a collaboration with his boyhood companion, Michelangelo Buonarroti. But will the frustrated artist ever emerge from the shadow of his singularly gifted friend?

The Queen's Gambit


Diane A.S. Stuckart - 2008
    Court Engineer Leonardo da Vinci conjures the spectacle in a single night, but his latest success turns bitter when one of the "pieces"-the Duke's ambassador to France-is murdered.Given the brutal climate of court politics, even the Duke's closest advisors are suspect. As an outsider, Leonardo is the only man Sforza can trust to conduct the investigation. With his scrupulous eye for detail, and young apprentice Dino gathering information unnoticed, Leonardo uncovers a vile nest of secrets-while danger, like an ill humor, rises to the surface.But the most surprising secret of all may be the true identity of his most talented, most trusted apprentice.

The Most Beautiful Woman in Florence: A Story of Botticelli


Alyssa Palombo - 2017
    Marco is young, handsome and well-educated. Not to mention he is one of the powerful Medici family’s favored circle.Even before her marriage with Marco is set, Simonetta is swept up into Lorenzo and Giuliano de’ Medici’s glittering circle of politicians, poets, artists, and philosophers. The men of Florence―most notably the rakish Giuliano de’ Medici―become enthralled with her beauty. That she is educated and an ardent reader of poetry makes her more desirable and fashionable still. But it is her acquaintance with a young painter, Sandro Botticelli, which strikes her heart most. Botticelli immediately invites Simonetta, newly proclaimed the most beautiful woman in Florence, to pose for him. As Simonetta learns to navigate her marriage, her place in Florentine society, and the politics of beauty and desire, she and Botticelli develop a passionate intimacy, one that leads to her immortalization in his masterpiece, The Birth of Venus.

The Last Mona Lisa


Jonathan Santlofer - 2021
    Exactly what happens in the two years before its recovery is a mystery. Many replicas of the Mona Lisa exist, and more than one historian has wondered if the painting now in the Louvre is a fake, switched in 1911.Present day: art professor Luke Perrone digs for the truth behind his most famous ancestor: Peruggia. His search attracts an Interpol detective with something to prove and an unfamiliar but curiously helpful woman. Soon, Luke tumbles deep into the world of art and forgery, a land of obsession and danger.A gripping novel exploring the 1911 theft and the present underbelly of the art world, The Last Mona Lisa is a suspenseful tale, tapping into our universal fascination with da Vinci's enigma, why people are driven to possess certain works of art, and our fascination with the authentic and the fake.

A Front Page Affair


Radha Vatsal - 2016
    Morgan's mansion and the Great War are splashed across the front page of every newspaper. Capability "Kitty" Weeks would love nothing more than to report on the news of the day, but she's stuck writing about fashion and society gossip over on the Ladies' Page―until a man is murdered at a high society picnic on her beat.Determined to prove her worth as a journalist, Kitty finds herself plunged into the midst of a wartime conspiracy that threatens to derail the United States' attempt to remain neutral―and to disrupt the privileged life she has always known.Radha Vatsal's A Front Page Affair is the first book in highly anticipated series featuring rising journalism star Kitty Weeks.

Murder in the Lincoln White House


C.M. Gleason - 2017
    The last thing anyone wants is any sort of hitch in the proceedings—let alone murder! Fortunately the president has young Adam Quinn by his side . . .At the inaugural ball, Lincoln’s trusted entourage is on their guard. Allan Pinkerton, head of the president’s security team, is wary of potential assassins. And Lincoln’s oldest friend, Joshua Speed, is by his side, along with Speed’s nephew, Adam Quinn—called back from the Kansas frontier to serve as the president’s assistant and jack-of-all-trades.Despite the tight security, trouble comes nonetheless. A man is found stabbed to death in a nearby room, only yards from the president. Not wishing to cause alarm, Lincoln dispatches young Quinn—instead of the high-profile Pinkerton—to discreetly investigate.Could the proximity of the murder possibly be a coincidence? Or is the crime directly related to Lincoln himself—possibly a political act? Quinn’s observation skills as a frontier scout are invaluable as he examines the victim and begins a complex investigation. Though he is new to Washington, DC, he must navigate through high society, political personages, and a city preparing for war in order to solve the crime. He finds unexpected allies in a determined female journalist named Sophie Gates, and Dr. Hilton, a free man of colorQuinn—with assistance from Sophie and Dr. Hilton—must make haste to solve the murder if he is to protect the president he’s pledged to serve. With the shadow of war looming on the horizon, there’s no margin for error, as no less than the fate of the nation is at stake . . .PRAISE FOR THE PREVIOUS WORKS OF C. M. GLEASON:“Exhilarating . . . Sure to please.” —The New York Times Sunday Book Review“Wonderfully witty . . . deliciously dark and delightfully entertaining.” —The Chicago Tribune“Sophisticated, sexy, surprising . . . This book grabs you and holds you tight till the very last page!” —#1 New York Times bestselling author J. R. Ward“Gleason’s novel is a well-oiled machine . . . the authentic historical framework . . . the compelling personalities.” —School Library Journal“Witty, intriguing, and addictive.” —Publishers Weekly“Phenomenal storytelling.” —Romantic Times

A Tabernacle for the Sun


Linda Proud - 1997
    His dreams come true, but not in the way he expected them to, and war pitches him into the city of Lorenzo de' Medici. His cousin, Antonio, tries to enlist his help in a conspiracy to murder Lorenzo. Tommaso, now living and working with men who are members of the Platonic Academy wishes to enter the Academy himself but to do so he must make his peace with the keeper of its gates - Lorenzo. Torn, he does not know his own mind and heart until fate forces his arm.

Da Vinci's Tiger


L.M. Elliott - 2015
    The arrival of the charismatic Venetian ambassador, Bernardo Bembo, introduces Ginevra to a dazzling circle of patrons, artists, and philosophers. Bembo chooses Ginevra as his Platonic muse and commissions a portrait of her by a young Leonardo da Vinci. Posing for the brilliant painter inspires an intimate connection between them, one Ginevra only begins to understand. In a rich and vivid world of exquisite art with a dangerous underbelly of deadly political feuds, Ginevra faces many challenges to discover her voice and artistic companionship—and to find love.

I, Mona Lisa


Jeanne Kalogridis - 2006
    My story begins not with my birth but a murder, committed the year before I was born…"*****Florence****, April 1478:** The handsome Giuliano de' Medici is brutally assassinated in Florence's magnificent Duomo. The shock of the murder ripples throughout the great city, from the most renowned artists like Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, to a wealthy wool merchant and his extraordinarily beautiful daughter, Madonna Lisa.More than a decade later, Florence falls under the dark spell of the preacher Savonarola, a fanatic who burns paintings and books as easily as he sends men to their deaths. Lisa, now grown into an alluring woman, captures the heart of Giuliano's nephew and namesake. But when Guiliano, her love, meets a tragic end, Lisa must gather all her courage and cunning to untangle a sinister web of illicit love, treachery, and dangerous secrets that threatens her life.Set against the drama of 15th Century Florence, *I, Mona Lisa* is painted in many layers of fact and fiction, with each intricately drawn twist told through the captivating voice of Mona Lisa herself.**

The Lost Madonna


Kelly Jones - 2007
    Thirty years after leaving Florence with a broken heart, Suzanne Cunningham is back, determined to solve the mystery of what happened to a priceless painting from her past-and to the man who forever changed the course of her life.

The Girl in the Picture


Kerry Barrett - 2017
    One house. Centuries of secrets East Sussex Coast, 1855 Violet Hargreaves is the lonely daughter of a widowed industrialist, and an aspiring Pre-Raphaelite painter. One day, the naïve eighteen-year-old meets Edwin; a mysterious and handsome man on the beach, who promises her a world beyond the small costal village she’s trapped in. But after ignoring warning about Edwin, a chain of terrible events begins to unfold for Violet… East Sussex Coast, 2016 For thriller-writer Ella Daniels, the house on the cliff is the perfect place to overcome writer’s block, where she decides to move with her small family. But there’s a strange atmosphere that settles once they move in – and rumours of historical murders next door begin to emerge. One night, Ella uncovers a portrait of a beautiful young girl named Violet Hargreaves, who went missing at the same time as the horrific crimes, and Ella becomes determined to find out what happened there 160 years ago. And in trying to lay Violet’s ghost to rest, Ella must face ghosts of her own...This haunting timeslip tale is perfect for fans of Kate Riordan, Tracy Rees, Kate Morton and Lucinda Riley.