“A wonderful treat . . . Masello [is] a master entertainer unafraid to pull out all the stops.”—Chicago Tribune Benvenuto Cellini, master artisan of Renaissance Italy, once crafted a beautiful amulet prized for its unimaginable power—and untold menace. Now the quest to recover this legendary artifact depends upon one man: David Franco, a brilliant but skeptical young scholar at Chicago’s world-renowned Newberry Library. What begins as a simple investigation spirals into a tale of dangerous intrigue, as Franco races from the châteaux of France to the palazzos of Rome in a desperate search for the ultimate treasure—and an answer to a riddle that has puzzled mankind since the beginning of time. Aided by a beautiful young Florentine harboring dark secrets, pursued by deadly assassins, and battling demons of his own, Franco must ultimately confront an evil greater than anything conjured in his worst nightmares. BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Robert Masello's The Romanov Cross. Praise for The Medusa Amulet “Fascinating . . . an unpredictable and exhilarating journey . . . [Robert] Masello expertly blends contemporary thrills with a historical spin.”—Associated Press “In addition to its taut story, there is an impressive amount of scholarship, and enough detail to please art lovers or history buffs. Great writing and rich detail combine for a gripping read.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “Engrossing and fun.”—Library Journal

“A wonderful treat . . . Masello [is] a master entertainer unafraid to pull out all the stops.”—Chicago Tribune Benvenuto Cellini, master artisan of Renaissance Italy, once crafted a beautiful amulet prized for its unimaginable power—and untold menace. Now the quest to recover this legendary artifact depends upon one man: David Franco, a brilliant but skeptical young scholar at Chicago’s world-renowned Newberry Library. What begins as a simple investigation spirals into a tale of dangerous intrigue, as Franco races from the châteaux of France to the palazzos of Rome in a desperate search for the ultimate treasure—and an answer to a riddle that has puzzled mankind since the beginning of time. Aided by a beautiful young Florentine harboring dark secrets, pursued by deadly assassins, and battling demons of his own, Franco must ultimately confront an evil greater than anything conjured in his worst nightmares. BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Robert Masello's The Romanov Cross. Praise for The Medusa Amulet “Fascinating . . . an unpredictable and exhilarating journey . . . [Robert] Masello expertly blends contemporary thrills with a historical spin.”—Associated Press “In addition to its taut story, there is an impressive amount of scholarship, and enough detail to please art lovers or history buffs. Great writing and rich detail combine for a gripping read.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “Engrossing and fun.”—Library Journal

Journalist Michael Wilde—his world recently shattered by tragedy—has come to the South Pole looking for solace and a new lease on life. But what he finds on a routine dive in the polar sea is something else entirely: the bodies of a young man and a young woman, bound with chains and sealed forever in a block of ice. Beside them is an ancient chest filled with a sinister cargo. Wilde’s search to unravel the mystery of this doomed couple will lead from the battlefields of the Crimean War to the unexplored depths of the Antarctic Ocean, where an age-old curse survives to this day. And as the ice around the lovers begins to melt, Wilde will witness what may be a miracle—or a nightmare—in the making. What is dead, it turns out, is not always gone.

A spunky, feminist take on the myth of Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom, war, and courage From the moment she sprung from Zeus’s head, Athena was extraordinary. Even though some doubted her as a young goddess, Athena never backed down from a fight. Poseidon wants to be the patron god of a nearby city? Well, so does Athena! And she’s going to outwit him and found Athens. Perseus doesn’t know how to defeat Medusa? No problem! Athena can give him the knowledge (and shield) he needs to take off her head. Odysseus is lost at sea, seemingly doomed? Not anymore! Athena can get him home. Follow the goddess of wisdom through her adventures with gods and mortals, discover the perils of crossing her, and see how she eventually learned to better understand and aid the human race.

"Modern science and primordial supernatural powers collide as war rages in 1944. Struggling to decipher the contents of a sarcophagus from an Egyptian tomb, Lucas and Simone unwittingly release forces for both good and unmitigated evil. The fate of the world hangs on Professor Einstein's secret research and on Lucas's ability to defeat an unholy adversary"--

In the crystalline caves beneath an Italian lake, the fossil of a clawed creature seemingly older than the earth has been disinterred. In the sands of the Judaean desert, a tattered parchment, lost but legendary, has been discovered. One reveals the secrets of Heaven. One foretells an impending Hell. Together they have unleashed an abominable power into the world. And deciphering their message has been left to paleontologist Carter Cox—a man of science whose faith in the empirical is about to be shaken by forces of evil beyond imagining.