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Murder at Midnight

Murder at Midnight

Scholas­tic, 2009

Renais­sance Mys­ter­ies, Book 2 of 3

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audio book nar­rat­ed by 
Jeff Woodman

Renaissance Mysteries
Midnight Magic
Book 1 of 3
City of Magic
Book 3 of 3
if you liked this book, try:

What’s this book about?

A plot to over­throw King Clau­dio is brew­ing in the King­dom of Perg­a­mon­tio. Schol­ar­ly Man­gus the magician—along with his street-smart and faith­ful new ser­vant boy, Fabrizio—have been marked as easy scape­goats for the trai­tor lurk­ing with­in the king’s court. Togeth­er, these two unlike­ly part­ners must gath­er clues to solve the mys­tery and prove their inno­cence before the stroke of mid­night … or face death!

Intri­cate plot­ting, sur­prise twists, and live­ly prose make for anoth­er sus­pense­ful page-turn­er that stands alone or sets the stage for Mid­night Mag­ic.

Story Behind the Story

If you are going to write a series, here is my advice: Love your pro­tag­o­nists. With­out that affec­tion it’s hard to engage with such nov­els. But the char­ac­ters from the pre­vi­ous­ly pub­lished Mid­night Mag­ic held that affec­tion for me. It is 1490, in Italy. On one hand you have the elder­ly philoso­pher, Man­gus, who hides his rad­i­cal ratio­nal­ist think­ing (this is the Renais­sance, after all) behind the notion that he is a magi­cian. What he real­ly does is tricks.

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Reviews

“Com­bin­ing action, silli­ness and enough step-by-step expla­na­tions to help read­ers fig­ure out the mys­tery, this enjoy­able his­tor­i­cal tale should appeal to the author’s many younger fans and send them off to read—or reread—Mid­night Mag­ic.” (Pub­lish­ers Week­ly)

“Read­ers will be glued to this sus­pense­ful, head­long caper from first page to last.” (Kirkus Reviews)

“The pages fly with intrigue and action.” (The Horn Book)

buy the book 
Renaissance Mysteries
Midnight Magic
Book 1 of 3
City of Magic
Book 3 of 3
if you liked this book, try: