Truly absorbing tale set in Renaissance Italy: two warring families and a convoluted kidnapping. Loved Sigismondo and particularly his sidekick Benno, who is not as stupid as he looks, but I can smell him from here! A great find: I look forward to the rest of the series.

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First Sigismundo historical mystery set in Renaissance Italy and featuring the afore-mentioned detective with his newly-acquired sidekick, Benno. Sigismundo is currently employed by The Duke, who asks him to investigate the disappearance of a young noblewoman set to be married to a young man from a family that is feuding with her own. The Duke has decreed this marriage as a way to bring the two families together, and neither of them is happy. So who kidnapped the girl? Did her own father spirit her away for safe-keeping, did the boy's father kidnap her, or is someone else involved? It's up to Sigismundo to find out. I like the main character and his grubby sidekick and the historical detail was interesting. The mystery itself was fairly easy to solve--one of those cases of spotting the baddie right off, but not being sure why or how.

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A Sigismondo Italian Renaissance Mystery

JACKET NOTES: With his bald head and black cape, the sleuth Sigismondo cuts an imposing figure as he courts death and danger in Renaissance Italy. At home among both royals and rogues, he is a master of the noble art of detection--and with his companion, the peasant Benno, he sheds light on the darkest of deeds...
FATAL FEUD...There is bitterness between the houses of di Torre and Bandini... so a marriage is arranged to mend relations among the nobles. But the uneasy peace is poisoned when the bride disappears and her handmaid is murdered--and unless th

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