The crusade of darkness

Italy, October 1301. Dante Alighieri, Prior to the city of Florence, is sent to Rome to meet with the Pope. Sinister omens greet his arrival; the river Tiber is threatening to burst its banks and the corpses of several young woman have been found eviscerated and ritually murdered. Dante has no power to order an investigation but when the authorities show little interest in the deaths he promises the mother of one victim that he will bring the murderer to justice. But when Dante visits the Vatican, and makes the acquaintance of an ambitious senator named Spada, he discovers that the city hides yet more dark secrets