Leonardo, who famously dissected corpses, could be a Renaissance forensic pathologist. Still thinking in terms of a detective story, I envisioned something akin to a Holmes & Holmes partnership. So clearly some mysterious and fraught relationship developed between them in Imola. And after a little more digging, I discovered some intriguing connections between Leonardo and Machiavelli: they both abruptly left Duke Valentino's court shortly after the end of the year, under circumstances that historians have never fully understood, and then worked quite closely together in Florence. As I dove into my research, I soon took particular interest in the closing months of the year 1502, when Machiavelli was a junior Florentine diplomat at the court of Cesare Borgia, the celebrated "Duke Valentino," who at the time was playing this deadly political chess game against a cabal of mercenary warlords known as the condottieri-a bloody political drama that Machiavelli would later place at the very center of The Prince.Īlthough Valentino's court was located in the remote fortress city of Imola during those final months of 1502, it attracted all sorts of interesting and nefarious characters, among them the Duke's innovative military engineer, Leonardo da Vinci. I began The Malice of Fortune with the rather modest ambition of writing a novel that featured Machiavelli as a detective perhaps he could use the precepts of The Prince to solve a crime. "synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.Īn Exclusive Essay by Author Michael Ennis And every thrilling step is based on historical fact. All three know their quarry is someone who holds enormous power, both to tear Italy apart, and destroy each of their most beloved dreams. Their foil and partner is the exquisite Damiata, scholar and courtesan. Here, Niccolò Machiavelli, the great "scientist" of human behaviour becomes, in effect, the first criminal profiler, while his contemporary and sometime colleague, the erratic genius Leonardo da Vinci, brings his observational powers to the increasingly desperate hunt for a brilliant, terrifying serial murderer.
This brilliant novel is an epic tale exploring the backdrop of the most controversial work of the Italian Renaissance, The Prince.
Based on a real historical mystery, and involving serial murder and a gruesome cat and mouse game at the highest levels of the Church - it was the era of the infamous Borgias - The Malice of Fortune is a delicious treat for fans of Umberto Eco, Sarah Dunant, and Elizabeth Kostova. A sweeping, intense historical thriller starring two of the great minds of Renaissance Italy: Niccolò Machiavelli and Leonardo da Vinci.
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