Book Reviews

About the author:

Beverly Graves Myers was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky. As a youngster she fell in love with opera and mystery, which made her the only nine-year-old on the block listening to Rigoletto while reading Agatha Christie.

A yen for faraway times and places led Bev to study history at the University of Louisville.  A career in public psychiatry gave her a good perspective of why people behave the way they do, in anger as well as love.

Cruel Music is the third novel in the Baroque Mystery series featuring Tito Amato, a renowned castrato in 18th century Italy.

Learn more about Beverle Graves Myers and her historical mysteries on her website and on her blog.

Notes on the book:

Tito Amato returns from an operatic tour expecting to relax with his family. Instead he finds 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 at the villa of a powerful, music-loving cardinal who will control the next papal election.

Tito spys as he serenades Cardinal Lorenzo Fabiani and his guests.  Pope Clement XII is sinking fast, and two candidates emerge as leading contenders for St. Peter’s throne.

Tito’s investigation leads him into Roman subcultures–communities of goddess worshippers right under the Church’s nose, and church leaders who are more interested in natural science than theology.

Background notes:

The character of Tito Amato is based on the 17th century castrato Atto Melani.

Melani was born in 1626 in Pistoia, a small Tuscan town. Atto and three of his six brothers were all castrated for the sake of their lovely voices.

Learning court manners along with his vocal exercises, Melani soon attracted the patronage of nobleman Mattias de’Medici. While their precise relationship is buried under the weight of years, it appears the singer may have entertained de’Medici with more than music..

Melani also added the role of spy when Cardinal Mazarin of France made a request for Italian singers to entertain the French court. Besides performing on stage, Melani would have serenaded his noble patrons at banquets and intimate suppers. He quickly learned to turn his talents and good looks to his advantage.He also kept his ears open for information which would interest Mattias de’Medici.

Melani went on to perform the same function for Cardinal Mazarin at German courts. Still later, he became involved in a scheme to gain the papal throne for Cardinal Giulio Rospigliosi, who became Pope Clement IX.

About the author:

The “Medieval Murderers” are a group of U.K. mystery writers. The members are: Ian Morson, Karen Maitland, Susanna Gregory, Bernard Knight, C.J. Sansom, Michael Jecks and Philip Gooden.

Notes on the book:

575 A.D. A baby is washed up on the Irish coast and taken to the nearest abbey. He grows up to become a scholar and monk.  As a young man he appears to have become possessed, scribbling endless strange verses in Latin. When the abbot tries to have him drowned, he disappears.

Later, his scribblings turn up as the Book of Bran, his writings translated as portents of the future. Violence and untimely death befall all who come into the orbit of this mysterious book.

Foretelling wars, plagues and rebellions, the Bookof Bran is said to have predicted the Black Death and the Gunpowder Plot. It is even said to forsee the Day of Judgement. But is the result of divine inspiration or the ravings of a madman?

A hidden hoard of Saxon gold. A poisoned priest. A monk skinned alive in Westminster Abbey. Only one thing is certain: whoever comes into possession of the cursed book meets a gruesome and untimely end.