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 have to rest the barrel on a special support stuck into the ground… But the arquebus is shorter – you can shoot 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. Readers have taken to her old Vilnius detective series “The Executioner’s Apprentice Cases”, which includes the novels “Murder in the Shoemaker’s Workshop”, “A Trap for the Merchant’s Killer” and “A Fatal Arquebus Shot”.

One rainy summer, nobles gather in Vilnius for the Diet that has been summoned – the state is preparing for war in Livonia, and King Sigismund Augustus hopes for their support. The executioner’s apprentice, Adas, views the newcomers indifferently: his own life is not without worries, as the executioner’s wife is pregnant, and his own fate depends on the future child.

However, the peace is short-lived. A nobleman who arrived for the diet is shot with an arquebus in the churchyard of the Vilnius parish church. The crime causes a storm – some blame robbers, while others direct suspicion towards the renowned legal scholar, Petras Roizijus.

Rotundas sends Andrius Volanas, secretary to Mikalojus Radvila, Voivode of Trakai, to help Adas. Following the intricate 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: Tyto alba
Year of publication: 2022
ISBN: 9786094667077
Format: 148 × 221 mm / hardcover
Pages: 256
Language: Lithuanian