A captivating, vibrant, and exciting tale of secret societies, death and disorder in the middle of Venice in the 1750’s. This is the second in the ‘Alvise Marangon Mystery series’, set after ‘Ascension’. Alvise finds himself investigating the murder of one of the members of the secret service he himself works for. I found myself sinking into the story, the intrigue settles over the pages as Alvise stumbles headlong into trouble. The vivid setting of 18th century Venice creates the most fascinating backdrop to this tale, I wandered the streets and canals alongside Alvise, simply gawping in wonder. I found the glossery of terms in the back really helpful. ’The Four Horsemen’ is so very readable, the mystery takes you by the hand and leads you into a web of chaotic deceit, what a thoroughly entertaining and striking tale this is. ~ Liz Robinson
After saving the Venetian Republic in Ascension, reluctant spy Alvise Marangon returns in this second adventure, played out once again in the carnivalesque atmosphere of eighteenth-century Venice. After Alvise is arrested in a tavern brawl, he is summoned to meet the Missier Grande, head of the city's powerful secret service. Rather than being expelled from the city, he is coerced into a top-secret investigation of the mysterious death of one of the service's agents. This death seems to be connected with a mysterious secret society – The Four Horsemen – whose roots go back to the fall of Constantinople, or perhaps even earlier. But as he oversteps the bounds in his investigations, Alvise finds that he has not only The Four Horsemen against him but also the authorities of the Republic itself. And so he is forced to go on the run, becoming both the seeker and the sought, amid the tangle of Venice's back-streets and canals and the outlying islands of the lagoon.
Gregory Dowling is Associate Professor of American Literature at Ca' Foscari University of Venice. He has published four novels, co-edited two anthologies of poetry, and written various non-fiction books and academic articles on Italian, British and American literature. He has a special interest in British and American writers in Italy, from the Romantic age onwards.
