Lucretia Borgia is known as the famous "poisoner". The author created an excellent portrait of Lucretia using primary sources taken from documents, paintings, letters and diaries of the time, identifying the sources and their location. In addition, he quotes the sources extensively when doing so furthers the story and includes the Latin or Italian version in footnotes should the reader wish to verify his translation. The author covers the Borgia saga very thoroughly. The fortunes of Lucretia's ancestors, her contemporaries and her descendants are revealed, and though at times confusing, the fortunes of many of the other players on the political scene of her time and place. A colorful recreation of Lucretia's world, through first hand descriptions of the Vatican, of Papal Rome, of courtly processions, personal finery, and the entertainment, arts and literature of the time, dip the reader in the reality of the Renaissance during the Papal period of Alexander VI.