Cirrus@Austlit

'At high noon on a hot summers day, a beautiful young woman shoots the mayor dead.

'So begins a story of passion and betrayal in a Quiet Tuscan village, leading to a sensational trial. The defence team, headed by the brilliant but unhappy Carlo Rienzi, uncovers a sinister conspiracy of silence that threatens to split the community.

'Can Carlo persuade the judge to grant clemency in what appears to be an open-and-shut case? Can the law intervene in the brutal tradition of vendetta?'

Source: Publisher's blurb (Allen & Unwin, 2017).

'As a young and outspoken priest, Luca Rossini was brutally tortured in an Argentine military prison, and then nursed back to health by the beautiful Isabel.

'Exiled to Rome to avoid scandal, Rossini becomes a cardinal and the pope's confidante. He is admired and feared by his colleagues, for he understands the Church, speak frankly and knows how to present his ancient faith to the media. When the pope becomes gravely ill and a successor must be chosen, Rossini takes a central role.

'In the midst of the political intrigue that surrounds the selection of a new pope, Isabel arrives in Rome—along with Rossini's daughter. Suddenly, Rossini must confront painful memories of Argentina and the scandalous passion of his long-suspended love affair.'

Source: Publisher's blurb (Allen & Unwin, 2017).