Rizzio

Rizzio

By Denise Mina

Pegasus Crime, 2021. 118 pages. Mystery

On the evening of March 9th, 1566, David Rizzio, the private secretary of Mary, Queen of Scots, was brutally murdered. Dragged from the chamber of the heavily pregnant Mary, Rizzio was stabbed fifty six times by a party of assassins. This breathtakingly tense novella dramatizes the events that led up to that night, telling the infamous story as it has never been told before. A dark tale of sex, secrets and lies, Rizzio looks at a shocking historical murder through a modern lens--and explores the lengths that men and women will go to in their search for love and power.

This fascinating slice of history is told in a crisp and compelling way. The depiction of the people and events, feels modern and relatable, with just enough detail of items, food and clothing to give it a good historical flavor as well. Denise Mina's writing is spare, sometimes brutal, and often beautiful. She portrays the confusion of events, the sadness and horror of murder very well. There is quite a bit of gore and some language, which is to be expected in this story. My only objection was the few times Mina slipped in modern commentary on certain things which I didn't feel was necessary. The events of the past, and her expert writing can speak for themselves. 

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Queen of Scots: the true life of Mary Stuart 

By J.A. Guy

Houghton Mifflin, 2004. 581 pages. Biography

The eminent British historian John Guy has unearthed a wealth of evidence that upends the popular notion of Mary Queen of Scots as a femme fatale and establishes her as the intellectual and political equal of Elizabeth I. Guy draws on sources as varied as the secret communiqués of English spies and Mary's own letters (many hitherto unstudied) to depict her world and her actions with stunning immediacy. Here is a myth-shattering reappraisal of her multifaceted character and prodigious political skill. Guy dispels the persistent popular image of Mary as a romantic leading lady, achieving her ends through feminine wiles, driven by love to murder, undone by passion and poor judgment. Through his pioneering research, we come to see her as an emotionally intricate woman and an adroit diplomat, maneuvering ingeniously among a dizzying array of powerful factions -- the French, the English, duplicitous Scottish nobles, and religious zealots -- who sought to control or dethrone her. Guy's investigation of Mary's storied downfall throws sharp new light on questions that have baffled historians for centuries, and offers convincing new evidence that she was framed for the murder for which she was beheaded. Queen of Scots, the first full-scale biography of Mary in more than thirty years, offers a singularly novel, nuanced, and dramatic portrait of one of history's greatest women.

The Marriage Portrait

By Maggie O'Farrell

Alfred A. Knopf, 2022. 339 pages. Fiction

Florence, the 1550s. Lucrezia, third daughter of the grand duke, is comfortable with her obscure place in the palazzo: free to wonder at its treasures, observe its clandestine workings, and devote herself to her own artistic pursuits. But when her older sister dies on the eve of her wedding to the ruler of Ferrara, Modena and Reggio, Lucrezia is thrust unwittingly into the limelight: the duke is quick to request her hand in marriage, and her father just as quick to accept on her behalf. Having barely left girlhood behind, Lucrezia must now enter an unfamiliar court whose customs are opaque and where her arrival is not universally welcomed. Perhaps most mystifying of all is her new husband himself, Alfonso. Is he the playful sophisticate he appeared to be before their wedding, the aesthete happiest in the company of artists and musicians, or the ruthless politician before whom even his formidable sisters seem to tremble?

The Way of All Flesh

By Ambrose Parry

Canongate Books 2019. 410 pages. Mystery

Edinburgh, 1847. Will Raven is a medical student, apprenticing for the brilliant and renowned Dr Simpson. Sarah Fisher is Simpson's housemaid, and has all of Raven's intelligence but none of his privileges. As bodies begin to appear across the Old Town, Raven and Sarah find themselves propelled headlong into the darkest shadows of Edinburgh's underworld. And if either of them are to make it out alive, they will have to work together to find out who's responsible for the gruesome deaths.

MGB