The Shadow of Madness by DV Bishop review: 'dark, atmospheric and gripping'

DV Bishop | Contributed

Tuscany, 1540, and we join investigator Cesare Aldo as he seeks answers about his past, leading him and his companion Dr Saul Orvieto to a secure institution for the criminally insane in the hills above Florence. Trapped by the snow, Aldo starts to suspect all is not well at this remote asylum, and he soon has to deal with corruption, long-hidden secrets and a murderer who will stop at nothing.

This is the sixth book in the Cesare Aldo series, and so for fans Aldo is a familiar face. It does mostly work as a standalone novel though, with a lot of the exposition coming in gently throughout the story, which helps it avoid any clunkiness. There are some pretty major spoilers for previous books however - unfortunately unavoidable, as this story has some elements that carry on from before - so be prepared.

Read more here: The Long Isle by Andrew Raymond review: 'oozing with atmosphere'

This book is dark, atmospheric and gripping. I usually lament the late arrival of the first murder in a murder mystery, adhering to the early Agatha Christie philosophy that a corpse should appear within the first chapter. But although we get a decent chunk of the way through the book before the first victim hits the floor, there’s a lot going on to intrigue and delight.

Aldo is a compelling lead, and his relationship with Saul, his friend, lover and confidant, is genuinely warm and a great anchor for the story.

Read more here: No Way Out by Max Connor review: 'doesn’t quite tie together'

The end of Renaissance Florence is a complex time to set a series of murder mysteries, and could be risky in weaker hands, but the world around Aldo moves and breathes naturally.

It is reminiscent of the Cadfael books, where, counterintuitively, the less lingering we do in the details of the unfamiliar world around us, the more familiar it becomes. We’re not bogged down with mounds of unnecessary and laborious detail that doesn’t help the story and merely annoys the reader.

It is the characters in the Shadow of Madness that dominate and drive the story, however, and with them that we spend the most time.

The institution Aldo and Orvieto find themselves in is run by a collection of Monks and Nuns, along with a few guards. The characters are all well rounded and believable. There is a real sense of the isolation of this hospital, and Bishop paints a convincing picture of how the characters are affected by being cut off from the outside world, adding to the dangerous undertones of the story.

This book isn’t perfect by any means but it’s tough to put down, and Aldo and Saul are characters you’ll want to come back to again and again.

The Shadow of Madness by DV Bishop, Macmillan, £20

Keep up to date with Arts and Culture from across Scotland by signing up to our free newsletter here.