The Venetian Heretic

by Christian Cameron Book 1 in the Venetian series.

First published 2025

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4.5(1,189)

Englishman Richard Hughes has survived galley slavery and now earns a modest living as a fencing master in Venice. During Carnevale, the city’s new opera attracts artists, patrons and intellectuals, but an attempted murder brings Richard into contact with a red-masked assassin targeting members of the Libertini.

His investigation, undertaken with the unconventional Philip de Chambray, exposes links among organised crime, espionage and church politics stretching beyond the republic. Venice’s palaces and theatres provide both spectacle and concealment, and Richard must recover the ideals he once abandoned if he is to protect his companion and prevent the conspiracy from striking at the city itself.