D.V.Bishop: The Darkest Sin, 978152903842, Pan Macmillian, paperback 

Right after reading "City of Vengeance" I downloaded the ebook for the follow up, The Darkest Sin", which won the CWA Historical Dagger for 2023, featuring the wonderful Cesare Aldo, officer of the Otto, set in Renaissance Florence.

 Just as rich in atmosphere as the first book, Aldo gets entangled in solving a murder inside a convent. A naked man, stabbed multiple times, was discovered by a nun in the morning prompting an investigation by the Church  and Albo,  representing the city. He strongly contradicts the church officials conclusions and using a trick,  sets off on a path of investigating each nun as he firmly believes that one of the nuns is quilty of murder.  How the man got into the convent is another mystery.

Brilliant plot,  atmospheric and transporting you into the political mine field of Florence in the 16th century, I loved The Darkest Sin, almost as much as City of Vengeance.

 D.V.BISHOP: City of Vengeance, Pan Books, 9781529038798, paperback 

I really disappeared into the world of Florence anno 1536,  featuring a real dude,  Cesare Aldo, officer of the criminal court protecting the Duke of the House of Medici and seeing that justice is served to Florence's citizens. 

 Shortlisted for several historical crime awards, City of Vengance is a historical thriller I absolutely loved. The 400 something pages were gobbeled up, I was driven by an explosive plot,  poisonous, wicked characters around Aldo and the murder of a Jewish moneylender he was ordered to solve in 4 days.

The atmospherice setting in Renaissance Florence plus Aldo's secret passion gave this a special twist.  Ace read if you love historical novels set in Italy. 

I quickly downloaded the second book in the trilogy, The Darkest sin,  which did win the 2023 CWA Historical Dagger. Cannot wait to get started on Aldo's next adventure!

 Patricia Wolf: Outback, 9781471411700, Embla Books, Paperback , I read the ebook.

While waiting for the publication of the new Jane Harper: Exiles,  I discovered  Patricia Walker to satisfy my appetite for Australian noir crime writing and boy, does she deliver! 

"Outback" is set around DS Walker, who is taking time off from work to care for his dying grandmother, she lives in the Outback where she helped raise him. Walker is called in unexpectedly to investigate the disappearence of two German tourist, Rita and Berndt,  who vanished while on their way to work at a farm. He finds town folks less than cooperative  and only when Rita's older sister arrives, a police woman from Berlin, is there some movement in the case. Ds Walker suspects organized crime operation might be setting up a meth operation in this deserted area and that Berndt and Rita's disappearence is somehow connected.... 

I do not want to reveal more but this is dark,  really fast paced atmospheric  thriller which I devoured, not only for Jane Harper and Gary Disher fans. Ds Walker is a very likeable character,  I just downloaded her second novel, Paradise which features him this time of the Australian Gold Coast..

Femi Kayode: Gaslight, Bloomsbury, November pubdate, 9781526617637, hardback and available as ebook

Thanks to an early netgalley courtesy of Bloomsbury, I had great fun reading this mystery set in Nigeria, pointing a heavy finger at the corrupt evangelical churches which are huge in Africa and the US. 

The plot is almost a side issue but the atmospheric portrait of some key characters and life in Nigeria is what I found entertaining, mainly around Philip Taiwo, an investigative psychologist, his formidable wife, pastor Jeremiah Dawodu, head of a Nigerian mega church who becomes a chief suspect when his wife Folsade goes missing and is eventually found dead. The corrupt entourage around the bishop is heavily borrowed from real life TV churches. In the novel they are trying their best to keep Taiwo poking around to find the truth around Folsade's death. 

Definitely a mystery that stands out by its Nigerian setting alone.