CITY OF SECRETS The Truth Behind the Murders at the Vatican

Hardback. On the heels of one of the greatest public scandals to rock the Catholic Church comes an explosive expose of murder and corruption in the highest reaches of the Vatican, the oldest and most secretive autocracy in the world. On the night of Monday, May 4, 1998, in Vatican territory, the bodies of the commander of the Swiss Guard, his wife, and a young lance corporal were found in the barracks of the picturesque force historically entrusted with protecting the pope. It was the worst bloodbath to take place in more than a century in the heart of the supreme authority of the world's one billion Roman Catholics. Four hours later, the Vatican announced that the lance corporal, 23yr old Cedric Tornay, had shot the couple, then committed suicide in "a fit of madness" brought on by frustration with the unit's discipline - a conclusion it reaffirmed after a 9-month internal inquiry. But as the author's hard-hitting expose shows, the official report was a travesty, a tissue of suppositions, contradictions, and omissions. Based on an exhaustive 3yr investigation - the first independent attempt to establish the truth - the author reveals how the Vatican staged an elaborate plot to obstruct justice - and hide the scandals it dares not confess. The tale of intrigue moves from the guards' barracks and the pope's palace in Vatican City to Paris, Berlin, and the Swiss Alps, and features a fascinating cast: an old, suffering John Paul II; his chief bodyguard, formerly accused of spying for the Soviet Bloc; a mysterious priest punished by the Vatican; and the powerful Opus Dei sect. This is the story of a still-unsolved crime committed on holy territory, and of a systematic attempt to hide the fatal failings of a security force charged with protecting one of the world's most influential leaders. Illus. + Epilogue. 309pp. 8vo. h/back. From the library of true crime writer, Wilfred Gregg, with his personal b/plate. Nr. F. in Vg+ dw.