Nic Costa · 1

A Season for the Dead

While Sara Farnese pores over ancient texts in the silent Vatican reading room, a brutal murder is taking place in a nearby church. Then a crazed man enters the Vatican carrying a bloodied bag. . . . Soon Sara is inextricably linked to a series of horrific and cunning murders. Thrust into the case is Nic Costa, an up-and-coming detective in Rome’s police force, whose mission is both to track down the killer and protect Sara from the horrors he is capable of. For it seems that at any time she could be the next chosen sacrifice – if, that is, she’s as innocent as she first appears.

Nic Costa · 2

The Villa of Mysteries

When a young woman turns up dead in a peat bog near the banks of the River Tiber, Teresa Lupo, a maverick pathologist, thinks she’s got the victim of an ancient Roman ritual on her hands.

She’s wrong. Detective Nic Costa, of Rome’s police force, knows this case is recent history and the horror is still very much alive. So begins an investigation that will take the police deep into the dark underworld of modern-day Rome’s most disturbing and sinister secrets, all the while battling their own demons..

Nic Costa · 3

The Sacred Cut

As snow falls softly in Rome, a horrible discovery is made in the Pantheon. The body of a young woman carefully positioned on the marble floor, a gruesome carving on her back . . .Before Detective Nic Costa and his partner Peroni can begin a formal investigation, the US Embassy brings in its own people: FBI Agents, who want the case closed down as quickly and discreetly as possible.

But Costa is determined to find out why – and as the FBI grudgingly admits to him that this corpse is not the first . . .

Nic Costa · 4

The Lizard’s Bite

In exile in Venice, after offending people they shouldn’t have, Detective Nic Costa and his partner Gianni Peroni are offered a chance to return to Rome. All they have to do is wrap up an apparently open-and-shut murder case on the island of Murano, where a glassmaker killed his wife and subsequently died himself when his furnace exploded.

The pair investigate, but as they dig more deeply into the insular glass-making community and the strange Arcangeli family, the detectives are increasingly sure is a cover-up, with devastating consequences . ..

Nic Costa · 5

The Seventh Sacrament

Giorgio Bramante, a charismatic Roman archaeology professor, was considered master of the labyrinth of dank catacombs that lie beneath the Eternal City – until the day his seven-year-old son, Alessio, vanished into them. The matter was never solved, in part because – inexplicably – Giorgio was left alone with the prime suspect . . . and in his frenzied rage, he beat the man to death. Released from prison fourteen years later, Giorgio is bent upon a terrifying revenge on all those he blames for the loss of his son.

Nic Costa · 6

The Garden of Evil

Inside a deserted studio, in a seedy area of Rome best known for prostitution, an art expert from the Louvre is found dead in front of one of the most beautiful paintings that Detective Nic Costa has ever seen – an unknown Caravaggio masterpiece.

Before long, tragedy strikes Costa far closer to home . . . and the hunt to find the killer becomes deeply personal. But while the main suspect’s identity is known, he remains untouchable – protected in his grand palazzo by a fleet of lawyers and a sinister cult known as the Ekstasists.

Nic Costa · 7

Dante’s Numbers

It’s a warm, golden evening in Rome, and celebrities from around the world have gathered to attend the movie premiere of a blockbuster adaptation of Dante’s Inferno, only for one of the stars to be threatened by an armed killer. Nic Costa and his team fly to San Francisco tasked with ensuring the safety of the remaining relics at the movie’s San Francisco premier. But in California confusing new clues suggest that there is more behind the dark events than a crazed Dante fan.

“Easily the best in a really terrific series” — Lee Child

Nic Costa · 8

City of Fear

Twenty years ago, a mysterious terrorist group known as the Blue Demon terrorised the city, committing a series of ritualistic crimes inspired by ancient Etruscan culture. Nic Costa suspects the old case was never really solved, and the Blue Demon has risen once again.

As the Eternal City spirals into panic, it soon becomes clear that there is much more to the history of the Blue Demon than anyone wants to admit . . .

Nic Costa · 9

The Fallen Angel

When British academic Malise Gabriel falls to his death from a Rome apartment, it seems like an unfortunate accident. But Nic Costa rapidly comes to realise that not only is there more to the accident than he first thought, but Malise’s family – mysterious and tragic daughter Mina, stoic wife Cecilia and troubled son Robert – may be keeping vital information hidden. And as the case unfolds, it becomes clear that something evil is circling Mina and her family. Something that’s closing in fast for the kill.

Nic Costa · 10

The Savage Shore

The ’Ndrangheta is a ruthless mafia organisation, one of the richest and most powerful organised crime groups in the world. Impenetrable to outsiders, merciless when crossed, they run the savage Calabrian coast of Italy. The head of this feared mob – known only by his nickname, Lo Spettro, the Ghost – has offered to turn state witness. Nic Costa and his team are sent deep undercover into the mountains, to negotiate with Lo Spettro and bring him in. With Lo Spettro’s help, Costa dons a new identity and becomes a member of the mafia family. It’s a dangerous game, and a single slip up could mean an end not only to the operation, but to the lives of Costa and his team.