The Venetian Betrayal - Steve Berry

The latest New York Times bestseller by the author of The Alexandria Link is a gripping international thriller that sends globe-trotting Cotton Malone on a perilous quest for the truth about the mysterious death of Alexander the Great. Available in a tall Premium Edition. n Steve Berry] has a genuine feel for the factual gaps that give history its tantalizing air of the unknown.--The New York Times Book Review n After narrowly escaping incineration in a devastating fire that consumes a Danish museum, Cotton Malone--former Justice Department agent turned rare-book dealer--learns from his friend, the beguiling adventurer Cassiopeia Vitt, that the blaze was neither an accident nor an isolated incident. As part of a campaign of arson intended to mask a far more diabolical design, buildings across Europe are being devoured by infernos of unnatural strength. Born from the ashes is a new Eastern European nation whose ruthless leader will soon draw Cotton into an intense geopolitical chess game against a shadowy cabal of power brokers. The prize lies buried with the mummified remains of Alexander the Great--in a tomb lost to the ages for more than two thousand years. Trekking from Denmark n to Venice to Central Asia, Cotton and Cassiopeia are determined to solve an ancient puzzle whose solution n could destroy or save millions of people--depending on who finds the lost tomb first. n n There's nothing tastier than a globe-spanning mystery.... Berry's books excel at bringing out fascinating tidbits of history. --Richmond Times-Dispatchn