Book | Gina Viliūnė | A Fatal Arquebus Shot

When the city is full of secrets, one murder is just the beginning.

„...to fire a musket ball, you need to rest the barrel on a special ground stake... But the arquebus is shorter – you can fire it without a support, but it's still not easy.“

Gina Viliūnė (b. 1974) is an expert on Vilnius history, an article writer, a tour guide, and a historical novelist. Her detective novel series set in old Vilnius has garnered reader attention. „The Case of the Apprentice Budel“, which belongs to the novels „Murder in the Shoemaker's Workshop“, „The Merchant of Death Trap“ Go „Deadly arquebus shot“.

In a rainy summer, nobles gather in Vilnius for a summoned diet – the state is preparing for war in Livonia, and King Sigismund Augustus hopes for their support. The executioner's apprentice, Adas, views the arrivals indifferently: his own life is not without worries, as the executioner's wife is pregnant, and his fate depends on the unborn child.

However, the peace does not last long. In the churchyard of Vilnius parish church, a nobleman arriving for the Seimas is shot dead with an arquebus. The crime causes a storm – some blame robbers, while others direct suspicions towards the renowned legal scholar Petras Roizijus.

Rotundas is assigned the help of Andrius Volanas, the secretary of the Vilnius voivode Mikalojus Radvila. Following the complex trail of the crime, they dive into the mysterious life of 16th-century Vilnius, where conspiracies, dangers, and city secrets hide around every corner.

Author: Gina Viliūnė
Publisher: These albums
Year of license: 2022
ISBN 9786094667077
Formats: 148 × 221 mm / hardcover
Pages 256
Kalba Lithuanian