Three exhilarating novellas -- The Secret Dead, The Academy of Secrets, and A Christmas Requiem -- following the early adventures of young priest Giordano Bruno in the dramatic days of sixteenth century Italy. Even the dead have a story to tell ... Naples, 1566. During a sweltering summer, eighteen-year-old Giordano Bruno takes his final vows at San Domenico Maggiore and is admitted to the Dominican Order -- despite doubts over his tendency to ask difficult questions. Assisting in the infirmary, Bruno witnesses an illicit autopsy performed on the body of a young woman. Her corpse reveals a dark secret, and Bruno suspects that hers may not have been an accidental death. His investigation leads him to a powerful figure who wants to keep the truth buried and Bruno is forced to make a choice between his future in the Order, and justice for an innocent victim and her grieving family.