LoveReading Says
LoveReading Says
At once historically evocative and infused with the rapier-sharp universality of basic drives and emotions (love, lust, envy and revenge), Denise Mina’s Rizzio is an immensely engaging novella. Wise, inventive and un-put-down-able, it’s a riveting read-in-one-sitting road-trip through a shadowy episode in Scottish history.
It’s 1566 and Mary, Queen of Scots, is six months pregnant, unaware that her Palace of Holyrood is surrounded by an army intent on murdering her private secretary and confidante, handsome, charismatic David Rizzio. And all this was arranged by Mary’s husband, Lord Darnley who, intoxicated, relishes “thinking about how sorry they’ll all be when he is king, they’ll all be sorry then. He’ll see they are". Recounting the events of a fateful, bloody night, Mina’s present tense narrative is delivered with verve, taut dexterity and atmosphere, with a powerfully palpable sense of mounting tension.
Joanne Owen
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Rizzio: Darkland Tales Synopsis
FROM THE AWARD-WINNING DENISE MINA COMES A RADICAL NEW TAKE ON ONE OF THE DARKEST EPISODES IN SCOTTISH HISTORY - THE BLOODY MURDER OF DAVID RIZZIO.
This breathtakingly tense work is a tale of sex, seduction, secrets and lies, one that looks at history through a modern lens and explores the lengths that men - and women - will go to in the search for love and power.
It's Saturday evening, 9 March 1566, and Mary, Queen of Scots, is six months pregnant. She's hosting a supper party. Outside, Edinburgh is bustling. It's full of the Great and the Good and the Idiot Sons of the Rich, here for a Parliament that will take Scotland by the shoulders and turn it from England to face Europe.
Mary doesn't know that her Palace is surrounded - that, right now, an army of men is creeping upstairs to her chamber. They're coming to murder David Rizzio, her friend and secretary, the handsome Italian man who is smiling across the table at her. Mary's husband wants it done in front of her and he wants her to watch it done ...
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9781846975677 |
| Publication date: |
2nd September 2021 |
| Author: |
Denise Mina |
| Publisher: |
Birlinn Ltd |
| Format: |
Hardback |
| Pagination: |
118 pages |
| Series: |
Darkland Tales |
| Primary Genre |
Historical Fiction
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| Other Genres: |
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| Recommendations: |
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Press Reviews
Denise Mina Press Reviews
'darkly compelling, riveting' -- Sam Baker
'The cream of the crop, an author who pushes the crime novel in new and exciting directions' -- Ian Rankin
'May be Britain's finest living crime novelist' - Daily Telegraph
'Denise Mina brilliantly manages to be funny, heart-wrenching, gut-punching and addictive all at once' -- Nicci French
One of the most talented, most daring, most humane writers of the past twenty years, an artist whose thrillers d'ouble as bracing moral inquiries' -- A. J. Finn
'a writer of huge skill and inventiveness who blends tense, well-crafted crime fiction with social conscience and historical weight' - The Bookseller
'Bestseller Mina vividly recreates a gruesome episode from the Tudor era in this searing novella set mostly over the course of a single day, Mar. 9, 1566. Mina interjects well-wrought characterizations; this superior historical thriller reads like a real-life episode of Game of Thrones' - Publishers Weekly (starred)
Author
About Denise Mina
Denise Mina was born in East Kilbride in 1966. Her first book, Garnethill, won the CWA Dagger for Best First Crime Novel. She has won the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year twice, and the MacIlvanney Prize twice. In 2017 she was named by The Times as one of the top ten crime writers of the decade.
Instagram: @damedenisemina
Website: www.denisemina.com
Maxim Jakubowski's view on ALEX MORROW...
A Glasgow cop with a nose for social injustice and the dark side of society, DS Alex Morrow is introduced in STILL MIDNIGHT by Scottish author Denise Mina, whose previous series featured investigative journalist Paddie Meehan and social worker Maureen O’Donnell. Realistic and bleak investigations with a strong footing in today’s reality are Mina’s forte in all her books.
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