[Sigismondo 02] • Rideau Pour Le Cardinal

In this second Italian Renaissance whodunit the enigmatic Sigismondo - at once mercenary, courtier, sleuth - is again called upon to solve a crime that seems to threaten an entire duchy. Prince Livio of Montenero, in a fit of insane rage following the death of his wife, lops off the head of his son, whom he suspects of being a bastard, and attempts to do the same to his daughter, the beautiful young Minerva. Sigismondo, who is fortunately present, saves her and transports her to a remote villa, where she is protected by a blind lord - who might be her real father - and his household of strange characters. Meanwhile, in the Duchy of Nemorra, Cardinal Petrucci arrives to officiate at the long-scheduled wedding of Nemorra's Lord Astorre to Minerva, now missing. Before anyone learns she is gone, the cardinal is murdered in a particularly gruesome manner, and Sigismondo steps forward to sort matters out and to find the murderer.