As usual in this series, two alternating storylines create a nicely paced mystery as the reader tries to deduce how and when the two stories from different centuries will intertwine. However, the story from the Renaissance age felt a bit same-old, same-old next to similar plotlines from the author's other books.

Lady Emily is always ahead of her time, but it's gotten more plausible as she's gotten older with more experience under her belt. This book was a fast, easy read, although all the spy/"service to the Crown" content never felt fully fleshed out.

The Lady Emily Mysteries are one of my must read series and The Dark Heart of Florence did not disappoint! I love going to new and exotic locations with Colin and Lady Emily and the way Tasha Alexander combines the history and culture of Florence into the plot is as always very well done. Mina's story is so sad and that it leads to further tragedies several hundreds of years later makes it even more tragic. That Colin and Lady Emily can no longer collaborate as they did in earlier books due to the changes in his position with the Crown changes their relationship and the rhythm of the books but not in a negative way. I look forward to their next adventure and seeing more of Kat in future stories. Thank you to #NetGalley for letting me read an advance copy of @TheDarkHeartofFlorence!

It was a delight to be back with Colin and Lady Emily. I love Alexander's use of split narratives - it feels like a bonus story within a story! While the historical mystery didn't capture me as much as some of her past works, I was so immersed in the characters and setting that it didn't matter.

Lady Emily and company are back in the newest mystery by Tasha Alexander. Is it just me, or do these books get better with every book? I don't usually like books that switch around from character to character, but the author has a gift for the technique, as she splits the storytelling between the 1400s and the early 1900s.