HarperCollins, 2007.
Review published Mar 2007.
City of Shadows is Ariana Franklin's first book, republished in paperback this year. Just as Hitler is rising to power, the Romanov princess Anastasia has appeared in Berlin. She is protected by a Jewish woman, Esther Solomonova, who herself is secretary and assistant to another Russian emigre, a nightclub owner. Trying to tell any more of this multi-level plot would spoil the story, which is richly romantic, historically vivid and adequately suspenseful, with a final surprise which is satisfying to readers, even those who may have suspected it.
Ariana Franklin's newest book, Mistress of the Art of Death, just out in March 2007, is a historical thriller starring an obstreperous female forensic expert, named Dr. Vesuvia Adelia Rachel Ortese Aguilar, who was called from Salerno to Cambridge by King Henry II, along with her Arab eunuch protector to solve the murders of children, allegedly by Jews. Knowledge of the Crusades proves essential to unlocking the gruesome mystery.
Let's hope Ariana Franklin writes many more novels!