While Three Fires is a quick and entertaining read, Mina packs a lot of information and ideas into this short book of 138 pages. She, as the omniscient narrator, uses modern language and modern similes to describe the historical details in a way that makes them immediately understandable. For example, when she describes a civil war between rival aristocratic families in the wealthy city of Ferrara, she says, “It’s the Vietnam War taking place in Monte Carlo.” These historical anomalies could feel like stylistic gimmicks, but in Mina’s hands, they work to convey complex ideas in an efficient and engaging way. ( )

I LOVE Denise Mina and will read pretty much anything she writes. I love the idea behind this and the choice of subject matter. It read very quickly, and the details are well chosen. But I feel I might have got more out of it if I knew even a tiny bit about Florence in that period. I certainly learned a fair bit; before this, I knew The Bonfire of the Vanities only as the title of the novel by Tom Wolfe. ( )