Naming Book Five

What will 2025’s Aldo novel be called?

Welcome to the newsletter of David (D. V.) Bishop, author of the Cesare Aldo historical thrillers set in Renaissance Italy. This time I’m talking about how novels get named, and revealing what Aldo book five will be called…

But first: prize news!

The third Cesare Aldo novel Ritual of Fire has been longlisted for the 2024 Ngaio Marsh Award for best novel prize, which celebrates excellence in New Zealand crime, mystery, and thriller writing. It is one of twelve books chosen by an international panel of judges.

Ritual of Fire is on the longlist with novels by acclaimed writers, including a past winner of The Booker Prize and a four-time Oscar-nominated screenwriter, amongst others. Having my book included in such esteemed is enough to make me dizzy!

This is the third year in succession a Cesare Aldo novel is longlisted for the Ngaio Marsh Award. The finalists will be revealed in August, and the winner is announced in association with the WORD Festival in Christchurch during September.

Naming my new novel

What’s in a name, a writer once asked. When it comes to novels, finding the perfect name is a challenge. That name needs to communicate and entice, enthuse and represent the book on which it appears. The name needs to work for readers new and old. It has to get booksellers and librarians and publishing industry people excited. And it has to be in keeping with the relevant book, tonally and story-wise too.

Naming the fifth book in an ongoing series (as next year’s Cesare Aldo historical thriller will be) is a little easier in some ways. There have already been four books, so a particular style of title has become apparent. All the Aldo novels have three-word titles. They either start with a preposition (The Darkest Sin or A Divine Fury), or have the word of in the middle (Ritual of Fire, City of Vengeance).  

The Aldo titles are all evocative, hinting at the danger and drama behind the front cover. They capture the mood of the novel, too, which is sometimes called tone. For example, The Darkest Sin is a closed circle mystery set in a Renaissance Florence convent. I would have loved to call that book And Then There Were Nuns as an Agatha Christie homage, but was too cosy for the second Aldo novel.

When the first of my series was submitted to editors, its working title was Safer To Be Feared, which was taken from the Machiavelli quote that appears inside the book. But my publisher Pan Macmillan suggested City of Vengeance instead, arguing it was a stronger and snappier representation of the novel. I happily agreed – after all, your publisher is the expert when it comes to selling a book!

Ritual of Fire was originally going to be Ordeal By Fire, but there were too many books with that title already (another consideration when selecting a title). I’m not sure A Divine Fury ever had any other title; I simply called it Aldo Four while writing.

For months my editor Alex Saunders and I have been debating what to call the fifth Aldo book. The Venetian setting suggested A Venetian Something, The Venetian Something or else Something of Venice – but none excited us. Besides, there is a wonderful series of crime novels by Philip Gwynne Jones that always uses Venice or Venetian in their titles. So we needed another approach…

Spies and espionage are a significant part of Aldo book five, so variations on those plot elements were considered. The story is setting during the boisterous, ribald days before Lent when sixteenth century Venice let its hair down (as still happens today, in fact), so that suggested another angle – perhaps something involving masks?

Many suggestions and debates later we agreed on what seems to me the perfect name for this novel. It might still possibly change but, for now at least, a title has been chosen. The fifth Cesare Aldo historical thriller will be called…

CARNIVAL OF LIES

My agent tells me this is the best Aldo yet, and they are not prone to exaggeration. Now it has a great title, I can’t wait for readers to dive into the story. Think Oceans’ Eleven meets Mission Impossible in Renaissance Venice. Coming, summer 2025!

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