Portrait of a Conspiracy: Da Vinci’s Disciples, Book One

Morin (The Secret in the Glass) makes the most of her original premise in this promising series debut set in Renaissance Florence. The plot hits the ground running as patron of the arts Giuliano de’ Medici, who’s the co-ruler of Florence with his brother, Lorenzo, is stabbed to death in broad daylight, a crime that sets Lorenzo on a bloody quest for revenge. Meanwhile, a secret group of women artists enlists none other than Leonardo da Vinci in an unusual scheme. The women, led by Viviana del Marrone, the wife of a brutish merchant, plan to alter a painting entitled The Feast of Herod so that the faces of the conspirators behind Giuliano’s murder are included. To succeed, they need Leonardo’s expertise, and Morin provides just the right amount of detail about the master’s methods. The prose can be a bit florid (blood “gushed upon a bleached existence, a mortal rip in the fabric of a world gone mad”), but Morin intelligently blends fact and fiction. [em](May) [/em]