Vatican Crimes: Mysteries & Thrillers About the Vatican

Unholy Trinity by Paul Adam. 2000  

This thriller moves back and forth between 1944 and 1945 and the present to imagine a complex web of modern neo-Fascist Italian extremism entwined with corrupt Vatican politics.

The Third Secret by Steve Berry 2005

Haunted by the secrets revealed in 1917 in Fatima, Portugal, the obsession of Pope Clement XV leads to behind-the-scenes intrigue at the Vatican as Alberto Cardinal Valendrea, the Vatican's powerful Secretary of State, plots to bring down the troubled pontiff, while Father Colin Michener, the pope's secretary, investigates the murder of a Romanian priest connected to the secrets.

Q by Luther Blissett ; translated from the Italian by Shaun Whiteside. 2004  

Amidst the chaos of the Reformation Age, a young theology student adopts the cause of heretics and the disinherited and finds himself pursued by those keen to spill the blood of any would-be supporter of Martin Luther.

Angels & Demons by Dan Brown. 2000

World-renowned Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned to a Swiss research facility to analyze a cryptic symbol seared into the chest of a murdered physicist. What he discovers is unimaginable: a deadly vendetta against the Catholic Church by a centuries-old underground organization -- the Illuminati.

Red Rabbit by Tom Clancy. 2002  

In a lethal game of cat-and-mouse that is the Soviet Union versus the United States, the Pope's life is in danger, as is the stability of the Western world. Jack Ryan is at the center of the action, but it may already be too late for a novice CIA analyst to do anything about the conflict.

Day of Confession by Allan Folsom. 1998   

A heart-thumping whirlwind of action, suspense and murder that reaches deep into the highest levels of Vatican power and uncovers a demonic scheme to massacre hundreds of thousands of Chinese in an attempt to establish a new Holy Roman Empire on the Chinese mainland in the twenty-first century.

The Assassini by Thomas Gifford. 1990

This thriller takes place as the Catholic Church prepares to elect a new pope and an ancient and deadly secret society, its roots deep in Church history, takes murderous action.

The Secret Cardinal by Tom Grace 2007

Called in by the Vatican to examine the workings of the Vatican Library, former Navy SEAL Nolan Kilkenny soon discovers that Pope Leo has another mission in mind--to rescue a "secret" cardinal, a Chinese bishop imprisoned by the Chinese for some thirty years--and with the help of American Special Forces, the CIA, and the U.S. president, launches a daring rescue operation that could change history.

White Smoke by Andrew M. Greeley. 1996

Mystery and intrigue and politics engulf the Catholic Church as the cardinals gather in Rome to elect a successor to the recently deceased pope. A Father Blackie Ryan mystery.

A Season for the Dead by David Hewson. 2004

In a hushed Vatican reading room, the scene was shocking: a crazed professor shot dead after brandishing evidence of a grisly crime. Moments later, two bodies are found in a nearby church, each with a gruesome calling card from the killer. And as the media gathers and Vatican officials close ranks, a young detective is sent to the forefront of the case.

A Walk in the Darkness by Jon Land. 2001

The narrative of this thriller pivots on three mysterious elements: two mass murders of archaeologists occurring over a half-century apart and a long-forgotten scroll that allegedly questions Christ's resurrection. A Ben Kamal and Danielle Barnea novel.

The Road to Gandolfo by Robert Ludlum. 1975

Here Robert Ludlum combines a motley cast -- characters all -- with the U.S. Army's latest fall guy in a mad plot to kidnap the most beloved pontiff since John XXIII. The ransom: one American dollar for every Catholic in the world. The problem: Pope Francesco I says: "Gentle Souls, why not?"

Vatican by Malachi Martin. 1986

The subject of this long and intriguing novel is the Vatican's elaborate bureaucracy, in particular its powerful financial network, headed by a mysterious figure known as the Keeper.

Windswept House by Malachi Martin. 1996

A gripping, provocative novel of faith and betrayal, power and conspiracy, within and without the walls of the Vatican.

Basilica by William D. Montalbano. 1998

 Vatican City, the dawn of a new century: a lone priest trudges up the winding stairs to the top of St. Peter's Basilica, only to be helped to a sudden and permanent route down.With this death, an ever-more complex chain of events is set in motion in a new kind of thriller: a story of Vatican politics and obsessional revenge, of violence both spiritual and physical, of two men shaped and scarred by a common stormy past.

The Blood of the Lamb by Thomas F. Monteleone. 1993

A Jesuit priest begins to manifest supernatural powers of healing and destruction, becoming the target of a Vatican investigation as he uncovers the secret of his true identity. Horror fantasy.

Daughter of God by Lewis Perdue. 2000  

When Zoe Ridgeway, a prominent art broker, visits Switzerland with her husband Seth, she expects to purchase the rich estate of a secretive art collector. But before Zoe can complete the transaction, she and Seth are drawn into a thousand-year-old web of conspiracy, murder and intrigue that begins and ends with the mystery of a female Messiah, a young girl whose existence, if proven, would explode the very foundation of Western culture.

The Book of Q by Jonathan Rabb. 2001

Thriller about a conflicted priest and his race to prevent a secret brotherhood from destroying the Catholic Church. See also Rabb's The Overseer (1998) about a desperate search for a fabled manuscript, one with frightening modern-day implications.

The Confessor by Daniel Silva. 2003

Gabriel Allon, Daniel Silva's protagonist in an interesting series about a Mossad spy who doubles as an art restorer, returns in a fascinating tale of Vatican complicity in the Holocaust.

St. Agatha's Breast by T.C. Van Adler. 1999  

For the monks of San Redempto, a decaying monastery in Rome, the rewards of embezzlement and the indulgence of their carnal appetites are distraction enough to prevent them from noticing that someone has been plundering the monastery of its treasure. But when archivist Brocard Curtis identifies the artist of the one remaining painting as 17th-century master Nicolas Poussin, they find themselves under close and unwelcome scrutiny. Ambitiously offbeat and graphically startling, St. Agatha's Breast is a brilliant mystery of corruption, sexuality, and murder.

6/10

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