PORTRAIT OF A CONSPIRACY, the first book in Donna Russo Morin's Da Vinci's Disciples series, thrusts the reader into a brutal time in 15th-Century Florence. Members of the powerful Pazzi family draw blades and kill Giuliano, brother to Lorenzo De' Medici, and he in turn, scours the city to wreak vengeance on his brother's murderers. Caught in the middle of this chaos are a group of six women painters who work in a secret studio and must hide their craft from the world at any cost.

But then one of the six goes missing along with a portrait from Medici's palazzo called The Feat of Herod. It's believed to be a painting of those who conspired with the Pazzi family, and their friend, Lapaccia, is the suspected thief. The women concoct their own scheme to save their friend and hope it doesn't doom them all.

Morin has done her research and evokes the Florence of the times complete with scents, sounds and visuals from the grime on walls and blood in the streets to the begging of the accused. She brings most of the women to life although I would have loved more vision into the lives of some that weren't fleshed out as much. If this book was mostly about Viviana, perhaps we will get to know the others better in future novels. I know little of the life of da Vinci, so I trust Morin has done her research in this arena. He seems eager to tutor the women even though some look down on him. It's a book of relationships: friend and friend, husband and wife, neighbor and neighbor, and how each woman responds to her own circumstances. Fans of historical will revel in her storytelling and crave more. Those who like mystery in their historical fiction will enjoy it all the more. I felt the ending was a bit flat, but I do look forward to the next installment.