Winter 1539. A Venetian has come to Florence with a plan. As Cesare Aldo finds hints of a conspiracy to assassinate the leader of the city, Duke Cosimo de Medici, but when the dust has settled and the bodies are still warm, it is clear that the bloodshed and violence was merely a distraction for a grander scheme.

Aldo finds himself recruited to thwart the nefarious plans, but that involves him returning to a place that he never wanted to go to again – Venice itself. In the height of carnival. Aldo is in a race against time to retrieve something that could bring down Cosimo – and send Aldo himself to an early grave…

Oops. Way back when – i.e. last year – I nabbed a copy of this on NetGalley to review and decided to catch up on the series one book per month until the month this was released. Only the review site got the release date wrong and I was going to miss it by a couple of months… and then something shiny must have distracted me as despite reading the rest of the series, I kind of forgot to read this one.

I’ve been looking forward to this one, despite forgetting I was supposed to read it. I’ve enjoyed the series and the characters, especially Aldo and Strocchi, so it was a little disappointing that Strocchi, Aldo’s partner-of-sorts isn’t in the one. Logically, there’s no role for him, so it’s probably a good thing he wasn’t forced into this plot where he wouldn’t really have a role. Still, a shame not to see him.

This is actually quite hard to review, because it’s not a mystery novel, not really. Yes, it’s an historical crime novel, but the crime element is part-thriller and part-caper. There are a few twists along the way, but it’s more of an adventure than anything else, plot-wise. This series has never been about the same book twice and this continues the variety.

There’s a lot of good character work, in particular Aldo, and the various political shenanigans are entertaining. What’s missing is much in the way of uncertainty. The games being played always seem a little one-sided and even when our team gets a set-back, the resolution is just around the corner. I’ve heard the author compare the book to Ocean’s Eleven – to be fair, this only really applies to the final section – but in that film, you knew that Danny Ocean was pulling all the strings. The puppet-master here similarly has a near indestructible air about herself, and I was hoping that when a certain… thing happens, it would go a different way, as a changed dynamic between her and Aldo would be interesting to read about.

So, not a mystery, more of an historical criminal romp. Well written – there are some lovely characters and character moments – and I look forward to see where the series – and Aldo – go next.

Carnival Of Lies is out now in paperback and ebook.