Welcome to Italian police detective Nic Costa’s Rome: the side of the city the tourist board does not want you to see. “Hewson does more than provide a thrilling read. He saves you the airfare to Italy. When you turn the last page, you’ll think you’ve been there” LINWOOD BARCLAY “David Hewson’s Rome is dark and tantalizing, seductive and dangerous, a place where present-day crimes ring with the echoes of history” TESS GERRITSEN “David Hewson is one of the finest thriller writers working today” STEVE BERRY “No author has ever brought Rome so alive for me – nor made it seem so sinister” PETER JAMES “[Hewson is] a master plot maker” BOOKLIST _______________________ In Venice, the world’s most beguiling city, someone has made an art of murder. In exile in Venice, after offending people they shouldn’t have, Detective Nic Costa and his partner Gianni Peroni are offered a chance to return to Rome. All they have to do is wrap up an apparently open-and-shut murder case on the island of Murano, where a glassmaker killed his wife and subsequently died himself when his furnace exploded. The pair investigate, but as they dig more deeply into the insular glass-making community and the strange Arcangeli family, things don’t quite add up. With increasing pressure from above to come to a conclusion the detectives are increasingly sure is a cover-up, events spiral quickly out of control – with devastating consequences . . . Fans of Donna Leon’s Commissario Brunetti, Andrea Camilleri’s Inspector Montalbano and Michael Dibdin’s Aurelio Zen, as well as Louise Penny, Jeffey Siger and Martin Walker, will love this thrilling mystery series – perfect for readers who enjoy dark and complex character-led mysteries with multiple twists. PRAISE FOR THE LIZARD’S BITE: “Wonderfully complex and finely paced . . . Newcomers as well as series fans will be enthralled” Publishers Weekly Starred Review “Superb” Booklist “Part spaghetti Western, part buddy movie . . . and more engaging than a Venetian sunset” Rocky Mountain News “The series goes from strength to strength . . . another outstanding Nic Costa tale from David Hewson” Alan W., 5* GoodReads review “I read it in two days!” Jeanette T., 5* GoodReads review “Many interesting characters and much intrigue” David S., 5* GoodReads review THE NIC COSTA MYSTERIES, IN ORDER: 1. A Season for the Dead 2. The Villa of Mysteries 3. The Sacred Cut 4. The Lizard’s Bite 5. The Seventh Sacrament 6. The Garden of Evil 7. Dante’s Numbers (aka The Dante Killings) 8. City of Fear (aka The Blue Demon) 9. The Fallen Angel 10. The Savage Shore