Blood on the Tiber (The Gracchus & Vanderville Mysteries, 2)
Christmas 1797 is fast approaching when French former magistrate Felix Gracchus regains his senses in a room in the French embassy in Rome. He has just suffered a nasty bout of malaria, and vaguely remembers being assigned as chief of security to the new ambassador, Joseph Bonaparte. Still weakened from his illness, Gracchus has his work cut out for him: Joseph, who must not discontent too much either the Pope or the rather ineffectual local Jacobins, postures and dithers; his wife and a gaggle of female relations are unruly; his uncle Fesch is bent on ransacking works of art; part of his staff seem to have briefs of their own; and Rome is restless in more than one way, and then murder happens. How is poor Gracchus (who doesn’t much care for Joseph anyway) to ensure anyone’s security? Luckily his young friend, Lieutenant Vanderville, is there to help… or is he?
I confess my faith in this book was shaken at the beginning, by seeing Eugène de Beauharnais described – at least in my copy – as Joseph Bonaparte’s stepbrother and secretary (actually his 16-year-old guest and step-nephew). That said, the story is intricate, with more than a touch of the Gothic, and the writing lovely and evocative, bringing to vivid life a moody, wintry Rome, with its river and its ruins – like something out of a Piranesi etching. Slightly rambling – but very atmospheric.
