Cotton Malone #3 The Venetian Betrayal (P)

In 323 B.C.E, after conquering Persia, Alexander the Great turned his sights to Arabia but suddenly fell ill with a mysterious fever. To this day, his final resting place remains a tantalizing goal for both archaeologists and treasure hunters. Now, the race for this coveted prize is about to ignite. Cotton Malone, a former U.S. Justice Department agent turned rare-book dealer, is caught in the middle of an intense geopolitical chess game. After barely escaping a fire that engulfs a Danish museum, Cotton learns from his friend, the alluring adventurer Cassiopeia Vitt, that the blaze was no accident and part of a larger plot. Buildings across Europe are being burned down in a campaign of arson, concealing a far more sinister plan. Meanwhile, the Central Asian Federation has risen from the ashes of the U.S.S.R., with Supreme Minister Irina Zovastina at its helm. Zovastina is a cunning dictator with a taste for blood