Cesare Aldo book #1
by D.V. Bishop
GENRE: #Historical-mystery #Renassaince-Italy
My rating: ★★★☆☆
This is a mystery set in mid-16th century Florence, Italy.
I'm Italian (so please forgive my English) and I'm always drawn to historical fiction set in the most beautiful and important cities of my country, especially when real historical figures play a role, even a small one, in the story.
The mystery itself wasn't bad, not the best and most engaging I've read in years, but it had a lot of potential to be a great read, however, some things really bothered me and that's why I rated it 3 stars, when it could have been 4 stars.
__PLOT IN SHORT ___ 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.
A day before another murder had happened: a young boy, who was prostituting himself disguised as a woman.
Strocchi, a constable, Aldo's colleague, wants to shed light on the case, discovering that here too important people who have in their hands the city's trade, are involved with the dead man (or with the murder).
In all this is intertwined with Aldo's private life, in fact he hides a secret and a rival officer of the court is determined to expose some details about Aldo that could lead to his ruin.
Strocchi on the contrary is a sincere young constable still full of ideals and eager to do the right thing, one Aldo can trust.
Would Aldo and Strocchi be able to stop the conspiracy before anyone else dies or will they be defeated by politics and corrupt people greedy for gain and power?
________________
DID I LIKE IT ? My opinions on this book are controversial :
__ABOUT THE MYSTERY ___
YES ---> I liked that part of this BOOK was INSPIRED BY A REAL HISTORICAL EVENT : the murder of Alessandro de Medici which took place in 1537.
I always find historical fiction very interesting when true history is well mixed with fictional elements and I think the writer did it well.
Those who are not Italian will appreciate the author's historical notes, useful and stimulating for better documentation even just by reading Wikipedia.
NO ---> It is true that the book is written in English, so most readers probably don't know many things about the Medici, but I am Italian and since the son of a famous leader (whom a street in my city is also named after) is involved in the story, I already knew the culprit ( ____WARNING : SPOILER[ and also the fact that he is not captured ] SPOILER END _____ ) so I missed a part of the suspense.
Taking inspiration from real events is right, but putting a murder in a book, which you can even read about on the web, is not the best choice.
Furthermore, the first fictional murder seems to almost be forgotten at a certain point in the book and the connection between the two murders is very weak/non-existent.
__ ABOUT THE MAIN CHARACTERS __
YES ---> I became fond of both main characters: Cesare Aldo (at least until 98% of the book when he disappointed me) and Carlo Strocchi.
It's easy to appreciate characters when they are good-hearted men in a world where money and power can corrupt even men of the church as it happened in those days.
It's even easier when one of them has had a troubled past.
The same goes for a secondary character that I think will be recurring in the following books: Saul Orvieto, a Jewish doctor with whom Aldo develops a sentimental bond.
I would have liked to have a little more of the characters' private lives in the book and if I were to read more books in the series, it would be more out of interest in the characters than the mysteries they investigate.
NO---> As you can see above I liked the character the series is named after, Cesare Aldo, almost until the end, when I never expected him to ruin the ending for the readers and behave like a real hypocrite.
How ?
I can only tell you with a SPOILER ( don't read it if you plan to read the book ) ____WARNING : SPOILER[ _ Aldo in the end reveals a truth that had remained hidden: the real culprit of the fictional murder, who was a good boy who in a fight had killed a man hated by everyone for his wickedness.
Not only does Aldo ruin the happiness of two lovers, but his gesture leads the boy to commit suicide.
Aldo's lover had asked him to keep quiet, he knew that the boy was a good person and Aldo could have given him the chance to redeem himself.
I was disappointed by this ending, but I thought that Aldo wanted justice at all costs, not excusing the murder even if the victim was despicable and even if the murder had not been premeditated, but had occurred by accident.
THE REAL PROBLEM FOR ME was when Aldo, on that same night, killed an equally despicable and evil man, so that he would not reveal his secret and thus save his career and life (Aldo is gay and in those days one would end up rotting in prison).
SO HE SET HIMSELF UP AS JUDGE OF ANOTHER, BUT THEN HYPOCRITICALLY COMMITTED THE SAME ACTION: A MURDER!
I wouldn't have minded killing the blackmailer bastard, if Aldo hadn't first condemned the boy to flee and take his own life.
But he ruined a boy's life for a wrong action and then immediately after committed the same action to save his good name and with it himself.
UNACCEPTABLE ! ] SPOILER END _____
This contributed to making me give up continuing the series.
I can't read books where I don't have respect for the main character.
___ ABOUT THE WRITING STYLE __
NO ---> I don't know if the author has been to Italy or has Italian friends, in any case he stuffed the first half of the book with the most vulgar word that we Italians have to express male genitals: "cazzo" and "palle" (sorry if I report it here).
" C..." It's a disgusting word and within the first 25% of the book, it appears frequently, approximately every two to three pages, even in vulgar contexts such as: sucking his "c....".
Then from 25% to 50% of the book it is still a recurring word even in sentences where it could have been avoided. This thing disgusted me a lot, even if in Italy that dirty word has now become a common exclamation.
The issue is not only the vulgarity of the word itself, but also the vulgarity of the sentences in which it was used.
The constant repetition of this word, appearing on almost every page, was disgusting and made me want to stop reading.
If the author didn't want to use the clinical word "penis", he could have employed other Italian words that indicate the male genital organ, such as "uccello" or "pisello," which are less overtly vulgar than the word chosen by him.
The author also had fun inserting here and there Italian words that are readily translatable into English (secretary, office, family , puttana (whore)...) and the purpose of this stylistic choice makes no sense.
--> The atmosphere was no longer Italian because of those words, the author should have instead concentrated a little on some suggestive description of Florence, but apart from mentioning the name of some palaces, there is no description that transports the reader to 16th century Florence.
I recently read a book set in Venice in which there were words in Venetian (which are explainable in Italian, but do not have a corresponding word) and in Italian of the time that would not be translatable and therefore it was right.
BUT IN THIS BOOK THIS DID NOT MAKE SENSE and it seemed ridiculous to me.
Thanks for reading my opinion :-)
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