Perspective(s)

A pulse-quickening murder mystery set in Renaissance Florence by the renowned author of HHhH. As dawn breaks over the city of Florence on New Year´s Day 1557, Jacopo da Pontormo is discovered lying on the floor of a church, stabbed through the heart. Above him are the frescoes he labored over for more than a decade--masterpieces all, rivaling the works of Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel. When guards search his quarters, they find an obscene painting of Venus and Cupid--with the face of Venus replaced by that of Maria de´ Medici, the Duke of Florence´s oldest daughter. The city erupts in chaos. Who could have committed these crimes: murder and lèse-majesté? Giorgio Vasari, the great art historian, is picked to lead the investigation. Letters start to fly back and forth--between Maria and her aunt Catherine de´ Medici, the queen of France; between Catherine and the scheming Piero Strozzi; and between Vasari and Michelangelo--carrying news of political plots and speculations about the identity of Pontormo´s killer. The truth, when it comes to light, is as shocking as the bold new artworks that have made Florence the red-hot center of European art and intrigue. Bursting with characters and historical color, Laurent Binet´s Perspective(s) is a whodunit like no other--a labyrinthine murder mystery that shows us Renaissance Florence as we´ve never seen it before. This is a dark, dazzling, unforgettable read.