Carnival of Lies

Winter 1539. Cesare Aldo learns of a plan to assassinate Cosimo I de’ Medici and is charged with protecting the young duke of Florence. The attack that follows leaves casualties and allows the conspirators to seize Cosimo’s private journal, a document containing political secrets capable of damaging the ruling dynasty and destabilising the city.

Aldo’s pursuit leads to Venice, a place he has sworn never to revisit and where his past has left him with enemies rather than allies. During carnival, disguises and crowded waterways allow the thieves to move behind false identities while Aldo is forced to work without the authority he possesses in Florence. Recovering the journal becomes inseparable from surviving the people who remember him and the history he has tried to leave concealed.