Cruel Music

Praise for Cruel Music... "With its vivid cast of characters and realistic period detail, this baroque mystery set around the election of a new Pope is popular intelligent historical fiction at its best." -David Hewson, author of The Sacred Cut Tito Amato returns from an operatic tour to find his merchant brother Alessandro imprisoned on a trumped-up smuggling charge, a capital crime in 1740 Venice. The senator who controls Alessandro's fate is determined to have a Venetian as the next pope. He forces Tito to Rome to sing-and spy-at the villa of a powerful, music-loving cardinal who will control the coming papal election. As he serenades Cardinal Fabiani and his guests, Tito peers into the dark mirror of Roman politics. Pope Clement XII is sinking fast, and two candidates emerge as leading contenders for St. Peter's throne. Will Fabiani support the highborn Venetian whose secret passion is tinkering with electrical experiments or the humble cardinal with the gift of healing and a mysterious past? Then a beautiful corpse is discovered in Fabiani's garden and Tito-assisted by his irrepressible manservant Benito and Englishman Gussie Rumbolt-must wrestle with events that could change the course of history.... Beverle Graves Myers studied history at the University of Louisville and went on to earn a degree in medicine. After a career in psychiatry, she now devotes herself to writing mystery fiction full-time.