The Third Heaven Conspiracy - Couverture souple

For fans of Dan Brown’s Inferno, a sensational Italian thriller starring Dante Alighieri as lead detective.

Florence , 1291. In a disused church on the outskirts of the city the disfigured corpse of a master mosaic artist sits at the foot of his latest - unfinished - creation. Young, ambitious Dante Alighieri, Prior of the City, is sent out to investigate. He quickly discovers not only that the church hides secrets of its own, but that the murdered man was connected to a shadowy organisation known as the Third Heaven, an assorted band of scholars and adventurers whose influence could undermine the city's government - in favour of the all-powerful Catholic church and its brutal emissaries.

Seeking to uncover the truth in the mosaic that was too dangerous to be told, Dante is drawn into a power struggle that leads him back into the secrets and myths of an ancient imperial dynasty - and into peril as the charms of a mysterious smoky-eyed dancer begin to blind his reason....

"(Leoni) succeeds in building a story one can hardly put down and in recreating a perfect picture of Dante's times" (Niccolò Ammaniti, author of I'm Not Scared)

"Audacious...vividly realised medieval world...effortlessly immerses the reader in a fascinatingly alien world...an ornate and vibrant literary pleasure" (Independent)

"A thickly atmospheric historical thriller" (Metro)

"A suitably speedy plot with all the twists required...an entertaining and quick-witted caper" (Times Literary Supplement)

"An ingenius and atmospheric historical mystery" (Good Book Guide)