Curtains for the Cardinal: An Italian Renaissance Mystery

Sigismundo and his sidekick Benno are forced to deal with Prince Livio of Montenero, insane with anger over his wife's death, and with the horrible murder of Cardinal Petrucci

Authors Jill Staynes and Margaret Storey ( Death of a Duchess ) muffle the literary resonance of their pseudonym in a heavy, obscure and excessively melodramatic plot. Their second mystery set in medieval Italy again features brilliant deductionist Sigismondo, who is bald like a monk but who fights like a soldier, and his slack-jawed manservant, Benno, who has an air of "amiable idiocy." Sigismondo, bringing a message from Duke Ludovico of Rocca to his sister, the dying Princess Oralia, is puzzled by her cryptic remarks. They are interrupted by her husband, Prince Livio, who bursts from behind the arras with his sword drawn. Shouting " Betrayed me! Betrayed me! Bastard! Bastard! " Livio runs to the next room and beheads his teenage son; Sigismondo grabs Livio's 14-year-old daughter, Princess Minerva and heads back to Rocca. In the ensuing days, a cardinal is burned to death, a prostitute takes Princess Minerva under her wing and Sigismondo, after a bloody battle, finally gets to the bottom of the mystery. Although period details of dress and custom are carefully rendered, the story itself, neither a chase tale nor a courtroom whodunit, suffers mortally from its indeterminate identity.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The second appearance of Sigismondo, the Renaissance trouble- shooter for Duke Ludovico of Rocca, finds him at the bedside of expiring Princess Oralia while her husband, evil Prince Livio, beheads his young son--believing that he and his twin sister, Lady Minerva, were begat by another. Sigismondo and his half-witted companion Benno flee with Minerva, disguise her as a peasant boy, and head for Fontecasta, a supposedly haunted castle but actually the home of a nobleman blinded by Duke Grifone. Meanwhile, during preparations for the feast of Saint Bernardina, the Duke's advisor, Cardinal Petrucci, is set ablaze and killed, and his sister, the bossy Princess Corio, hires Sigismondo to discover whodunit. Deftly maneuvering through political intrigues, Sigismondo discovers clerical improprieties (love affairs, bribes), treacherous mercenaries, household spies, avid torturers, eager Jew-baiters, and crafty magicians, and manages to outwit them all. Teeming with fleas, rancid food, bloodthirsty peasants, conniving nobles, lecherous prelates, thumbscrews, saintly relics, and political feuds. Lively but, like Eyre's Death of the Duchess (1992), can't shake the YA label with its jampacked this-is- history-kids tone. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

The further adventures ( Death of the Duchess , LJ 1/92) of Sigismondo, agent/envoy extraordinaire, and odiferous sidekick Benno begin when Sigismondo "rescues" a betrothed princess from the jealous sword of her father, the Duke of Nemora. The rich plot quickly expands to include religious pilgrims, political intrigue, the murder of a corrupt cardinal, and sundry covert machinations by all concerned. An improvement on Eyre's first mystery; essential for historical mystery fans.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.