'I carried my Napoleon in my womb with the same joy, the same calm happiness, the same serenity that I experienced later, when I held him in my arms, and fed him at my breast. My mind was entirely occupied by the dangers of his father and those of Corsica. To gather news of the army, I quitted the safe retreat of our steep rocks, to which the women had been consigned, and ventured on to the very fields of battle. I heard the bullets whistling about my ears, but I knew no fear, since I trusted in the protection of the Holy Virgin, to whom I had dedicated my Napoleon.'

Blood & Fireflies, the first Gracchus & Vanderville Mystery is set at Villa Mombello in Lombardy. The villa was the ideal place for the mazzere to run wild, what with its huge scale and hidden compartments.

The first thing to highlight is that 'Napoleon' did not yet exist. There was just General Bonaparte, an unusually successful and rather young star in the army of a republic that had only just come into existence.