"As kids, Emily and Chess were inseparable. But by their 30s, their bond has been strained by the demands of their adult lives. So when Chess suggests a girls' trip to Italy, Emily jumps at the chance to reconnect with her best friend. Villa Aestas in Orvieto is a high-end holiday home now, but in 1974, it was known as Villa Rosato, and rented for the summer by a notorious rock star, Noel Gordon. In an attempt to reignite his creative spark, Noel...

"The feds want Miami bookmaker Harry Arno to squeal on his wiseguy boss. So they're putting word out on the street that Arno's skimming profits from 'Jimmy Cap' Capotorto--which he is, but everybody does it. Harry was planning to retire to Italy someday anyway, so he figures now's a good time to get lost. U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens knows Harry's tricky--the bookie ditched him once in an airport while in the marshal's custody--but not careful. So Raylan's...

In fifteenth century Rome, Toby O'Dare, a recently retired government assassin, receives a visit from the angel Malchiah. The heavenly figure instructs O'Dare to solve a grisly murder. But during the investigation, O'Dare discovers that the city is being haunted by an ancient demon and that solving the murder may have disastrous consequences for all of Rome.

"There is more history in a bowl of pasta than in the Colosseum," writes Andreas Viestad in Dinner in Rome. From the table of a classic Roman restaurant, Viestad takes us on a fascinating culinary exploration of the Eternal City and global civilization. Food, he argues, is history's secret driving force. Viestad finds deeper meanings in his meal: He uses the bread that begins his dinner to trace the origins of wheat and its role in Rome's rise as...

(1st work) The memoir of a 2,000-year-old vampire now living in Paris, recounting her early years. She is Pandora, daughter of a Roman senator in 1st century BC. After two unsuccessful marriages, she accompanies her exiled father to Antioch where she has a love affair with a vampire and becomes one herself. (2nd work) A 15th century Florentine knight sets out to avenge the massacre of his family by vampires. Vittorio di Riniari owes his life to Ursula,...