New Cesare Aldo historical thriller on the way from a former Tharg

By John Freeman on January 29, 2023

For those of you who enjoy former 2000AD editor David Bishop’s brilliant Cesare Aldo historical thrillers, the third novel in the series, Ritual of Fire, is now available to pre-order, as hardcover, eBook and audiobook.

Ritual of Fire, out this June, under David’s pseudonym, D.V. Bishop, is the third Cesare Aldo mystery, a hugely-enjoyable saga of Florentine intrigue and adventure, and is well worth your time, if you’re a fan of edgy, cleverly crafted, historical thrillers. David’s previous books have captured the setting beautifully, his characters as finely honed as you’d expect from a gifted author who also teaches the craft of writing.

Ritual of Fire by D.V. Bishop (David Bishop)

Florence. Summer, 1538.

A night patrol finds a wealthy merchant hanged and set ablaze in the city’s main square. More than mere murder, this killing is intended to put the fear of God into Florence. Forty years earlier, puritanical monk Girolamo Savonarola was executed the same way. Does this new killing mean his fanatical disciples are reviving the monk’s regime of holy terror?

Cesare Aldo is busy hunting thieves in the Tuscan countryside, leaving Constable Carlo Strocchi to investigate the killing. When another merchant is burned alive in public, the rich start fleeing to their country estates. But the Tuscan hills can also be dangerous.

Growing religious fervour and a scorching heatwave drives the city ever closer to madness. Meanwhile, someone is stalking those powerful men who forged lifelong bonds in the dark days of Savonarola.

Unless Aldo and Strocchi work together, all of Florence will be consumed by an inferno of death and destruction…

David Bishop (D. V. Bishop). Photo by Paul Reich — *David Bishop. Photo – Paul Reich*

David’s award-winning Cesare Aldo mysteries are all set in Renaissance Florence. The first, City of Vengeance, received the New Zealand Booklovers Award for best novel, and was shortlisted for the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize. The second, The Darkest Sin, was published last year, to deserved acclaim.

David Bishop, a former journalist and editor of 2000AD and Judge Dredd Megazine, was awarded a Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship while writing City of Vengeance. The novel won the Pitch Perfect competition at the 2018 Bloody Scotland international crime fiction festival, and was a Sunday Times Crime Club Pick of the Week. Global bestselling author David Baldacci called the novel, rightly in my opinion, “a first-class historical thriller… a tour-de-force.”

The Historical Novel Society says David is “fast becoming a serious rival to C. J. Sansom and S. J. Parris with his page-turning novels.” High praise indeed!

All of David’s Cesare Aldo novels can be ordered from your local bookshop, via bookshop.org, or AmazonUK.

He’s appearing at two events in coming months: the first, Bay Tales 2023, at The Playhouse, Whitley Bay on Saturday 4th March, chairing a this Pan Macmillan panel titled “Safe as Houses”, featuring bestselling authors C. M. Ewan, Fiona Cummins and Lin Anderson.

He’s also one of many guests at Crimefest 2023, in Bristol in May.

• Pre-order Ritual of Fire by D.V. Bishop here from AmazonUK (Affiliate Link) | eBook | Audiobook

• David Bishop is online at dvbishop.com | Follow David Bishop on Twitter @davidbishop

• Bay Tales 2023 Saturday 4th March 2023 The Playhouse, Whitley Bay | Panel: “Safe as Houses” D. V. Bishop chairs this Pan Macmillan panel featuring bestselling authors C. M. Ewan, Fiona Cummins & Lin Anderson | More information and tickets available here

• CrimeFest 2023 Saturday 13th & Sunday 14th May 2023 the Mercure Bristol Grand Hotel | More information and tickets available here | Guest List

City of Vengeance

Published by Macmillan 4th February 2021 | Available here from AmazonUK | Bookshop.org | ISBN: 978-1529038798

Florence. Winter, 1536. A prominent Jewish moneylender is murdered in his home, a death with wide implications in a city powered by immense wealth.

Cesare Aldo, a former soldier and now an officer of the Renaissance city’s most feared criminal court, is given four days to solve the murder: catch the killer before the feast of Epiphany – or suffer the consequences.

During his investigations Aldo uncovers a plot to overthrow the volatile ruler of Florence, Alessandro de’ Medici. If the Duke falls, it will endanger the whole city. But a rival officer of the court is determined to expose details about Aldo’s private life that could lead to his ruin. Can Aldo stop the conspiracy before anyone else dies, or will his own secrets destroy him first?

The Darkest Sin

Published by Macmillan 3rd March 2022 | Available here from AmazonUK | Bookshop.org | ISBN: 978-1529038828

Florence. Spring, 1537.

When Cesare Aldo investigates a report of intruders at a convent in the Renaissance city’s northern quarter, he enters a community divided by bitter rivalries and harbouring dark secrets.

His case becomes far more complicated when a man’s body is found deep inside the convent, stabbed more than two dozen times. Unthinkable as it seems, all the evidence suggests one of the nuns must be the killer.

Meanwhile, Constable Carlo Strocchi finds human remains pulled from the Arno that belong to an officer of the law missing since winter. The dead man had many enemies, but who would dare kill an official of the city’s most feared criminal court?

As Aldo and Strocchi close in on the truth, identifying the killers will prove more treacherous than either of them could ever have imagined . . .

• Pre-order Ritual of Fire by D.V. Bishop here from AmazonUK (Affiliate Link)

• David Bishop is online at dvbishop.com | Follow David Bishop on Twitter @davidbishop

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.