Deceit in the City of Masks: A Blood & Wool Historical Mystery (The Blood and Wool Historical Mystery Series, 1)

A sweeping adventure ride fraught with mystery through the Renaissance that starts at the far end of the Mediterranean Sea

In 1570, Jacob Dayan, a savvy woolens trader for famed Kabbalist Isaac Luria, ransoms Diego Pinto from pirates at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea. Diego, a street-wise adolescent, fled the Spanish Inquisition with a powerful magical breastplate from the ancient temple in Jerusalem secreted under his shirt. But that’s not Diego’s only secret. When Jacob and Diego travel to Venice—the glittering, commercial giant of Europe—the breastplate is stolen. At a masquerade ball, Jacob and Diego identify the thieves and follow them, hoping to reclaim it. If they do, they’ll certainly be pursued as they travel over the Alps to deliver the breastplate to Rabbi Loew, who will use the breastplate’s powers to save his people from a pogrom. Can Jacob retrieve and then deliver the breastplate to Rabbi Loew in time to save the townspeople? And, as their friendship blossoms, will Diego’s true identity be revealed? Deceit in the City of Masksis the first in the Blood & Wool adventure mystery series where our characters must risk everything to triumph over evil.

Deceit in the City of Masks is the first book in Michal Strutin’s 16th-century adventure mystery Blood & Wool trilogy. She’s an award-winning author of eight books on natural and cultural history, including Places of Grace: the Natural Landscapes of the American Midwest and two volumes of Smithsonian Guides to Natural America. Michal’s articles have appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Outside, and others. She’s worked as an editor at Outside and National Parks magazines, newspapers, and radio. Her first novel was Judging Noa: a Fight for Women’s Rights in the Turmoil of the Exodus. Michal lives in San Jose.