Maryann Philip

Maryann Philip (a nom de plume) has sold tens of thousands of "real history mysteries" in the Nicola Machiavelli series, consistently receiving more than 4 out of 5 stars on average after more than 530 Amazon reviews. Each murder mystery also tells true stories of the flamboyant, creative and violent crucible of modern history known as "the Renaissance." The first, A BORGIA DAUGHTER DIES, introduces "detective" Nicola Machiavelli, precocious bastard daughter of the infamous Niccolo Machiavelli, and tells the true history of the scandalous Borgia pope, his many children, and the family's unholy connection with Leonardo da Vinci. In the second, DA VINCI DETECTS, the great artist himself becomes chief detective while reliving his real-life persecution and imprisonment by the iniquitous "Office of the Night" and helping Nicola's father with a secret engineering project that they worked on together as historic fact. The third mystery, MARTIN LUTHER AND MURDER, features Martin Luther as Nicola's co-detective during the two months he actually spent witnessing papal corruption in Rome as a young monk, three years before he ignited the Protestant Reformation. CANNON CONSPIRACY showcases recently-crowned Henry VIII and his formidable first queen, Katherine of Aragon, as Nicola fends off the lascivious Henry while helping the royal couple foil a documented attempt to topple the Tudors at the beginning of Henry’s reign. Advent, Christmas, New Years and birthing customs in Tudor England are the backdrop of CANNON CONSPIRACY because it occurs during Katherine’s only successful pregnancy and ends before the little prince’s tragic death at 50 days old, in early February 1510.

Coming soon is MACHIAVELLI, MURDER AND THE MEDICI, focusing on the famous Machiavelli himself while telling the true history of the Medici family, its violent return to power under Il Magnifico’s youngest son, and the Medici imprisonment and repeated torture of Machiavelli for a crime he likely didn’t commit. Nicola, her lover Raphael the painter and her mother will help orchestrate Machiavelli’s still-mysterious release while foiling a psychopathic killer who has targeted them all.

Many other famous individuals including several popes, the future Cardinal Wolsey and the artists Botticelli, Michelangelo and Raphael wander through the pages of these stories--but only where and when they appeared in real life, doing what they did in real life. Each showcases a strong woman who was famous in her time but since obscured by history.

Maryann graduated with honors in “Renaissance Studies” (a self-created interdepartmental major) from Stanford University in 1975, having spent part of her junior year at Stanford’s Florence campus, researching her honors thesis using original Italian texts in the Biblioteca Nazionale. She then went to law school (U. Chicago ’78) and spent the next thirty years raising children and practicing law, with occasional time out to sing in small ensembles devoted to Renaissance music. She now lives in California, having retired from law practice to brush up on her Italian and devote herself to travel and her favorite period in history: the Italian Renaissance.