Marcello D'Estari, bastard son of a nobleman and a courtesan, is the most effective, most unmanageable and most amorous of the spies of the Venetian Republic.

To safeguard its position as the greatest Mediterranean power, Venice needs intelligence, and to gather intelligence it needs spies and informers - courageous, reckless men who can pass unnoticed among peasants and courtiers alike, who can speak the polyglot dialects of the Mediterranean ports, who can befriend noblemen and seduce their wives, and who can, if necessary, kill.

Marcello rarely enjoys the killing.

Set Fire To Sicily is his first recorded mission.