Today, Feathered Quill reviewer Lily Andrews is talking with Michael Balter, author of The Vatican Deal: A Marty and Bo Thriller.

FQ: Hello, Mr. Balter. As you said in the Author's Note section, the title The Vatican Deal: A Marty and Bo Thriller is based on actual events. What prompted you to utilize these incidents in your book?

BALTER: My first book, Chasing Money, is set in the early 2000s when, in real life, I was a struggling entrepreneur. It tells the story of two ordinary men, Marty and Bo, business partners and friends, pitted against a Russian killer who demands $10 million and a mysterious missing painting from them. Although I originally wrote it as a standalone novel, a twist at the end plunged Marty and Bo into a new kind of danger, and opened the door to a series of thrillers.

When I began plotting the second book in the series, I set it in Italy in 2004, when, in real life, I was a partner in an art company that bid on the Chiurazzi Foundry and successfully negotiated a licensing deal with the Vatican. My experiences in Italy were fertile ground for many good stories over the years and provided a colorful backdrop for the action in the second novel.

To make a compelling thriller, though, I needed a realistic threat that could place Marty and Bo in deadly peril. Fortunately for me, 2004 was also the year of one of the biggest mafia wars in Italy’s history. More than 160 people were killed in battles between rival gangs of the Camorra. And it occurred to me that if Marty and Bo, with the Russian oligarch backing them, came into conflict with the Camorra over purchasing the Chiurazzi foundry, that might provide a fictionalized reason for the war.

FQ: You also used some names of real persons. Are you concerned that this might cause future disputes, particularly with the Catholic fraternity?

BALTER: The third element of my book involves the Vatican Bank, which was involved in numerous money laundering scandals over the years. Angelo Caloia, the president of the Vatican Bank from 1999 to 2009, and his lawyer, Gabriele Liuzzo, were sentenced to eight years in prison for money laundering and skimming profits from the sale of Vatican properties. Lamberto Liuzzo, Gabriele’s son, was also found guilty for his role in the scheme, which took place during the period in which my story was set. I used their real names in the story, for verisimilitude, but invented their roles in the plot to provide my fictional Russian oligarch with access to a Vatican bank account. I’d be surprised if this offended anyone, as the crimes they went to prison for far outweigh their actions in my novel.

FQ: Speaking of Catholics, how do you think they will react to this book, which significantly hits on certain integrity concerns with its overall leader?

BALTER: Most of my Catholic friends are just as fascinated by the scandals and intrigue in their church history as anyone else. One of the bestselling thrillers of all time, The DaVinci Code, centers around a completely imaginary coverup by the Catholic church of historical events that never happened. In contrast, my book is based on well-documented issues with money laundering at the Vatican Bank. Gerald Posner’s book, God’s Bankers: A History of Money and Power at the Vatican is a good source of information on this. I believe Pope John Paul II was more focused on spiritual leadership than financial oversight, and was poorly served by his cardinals, leaving a gap where corruption crept in. The good news is that when these money laundering issues came to light, the Catholic Church under Pope Francis took action to clean up the Vatican Bank and end these scandals.

FQ: Is there anything you want your readers to learn from your book? If so, would you mind sharing some of the lessons?

BALTER: I extensively research all my books, and distill the most interesting discoveries into my stories. My first book, Chasing Money, centered around one of the most valuable missing masterpieces in the world, looted by the Nazis and missing since the end of World War II. In addition to learning about this painting, readers have told me that they enjoyed reading about the techniques of forgery, and the seamy side of the art of raising money. In The Vatican Deal, early readers have been fascinated by the insights on money laundering and the Vatican Bank, and the ways that the Camorra (the Naples mafia) differs from what we know in America. As for moral lessons, my main characters are flawed heroes. In their pursuit of money, they’ve made bad choices that drew them into danger in the first place, and are increasingly trapping them in a situation with no good outcomes. Marty, in particular, has let that spillover into his personal life in The Vatican Deal. He is lying to his wife, lying to his business partner and lying to himself. That’s not going to go well for him, and I don’t advise it as a path to follow.

FQ: Do you plan to utilize Bo and Marty as primary characters in any future books or sequels?

BALTER: Absolutely! Marty and Bo are enmeshed with a Russian oligarch, and freeing themselves from that entanglement won’t be easy. I’ve outlined a six-book series that will test Marty and Bo to their depths. The third book is well underway. I’ve got a killer idea and ending that will shock most readers. My research has turned up some fascinating subject matter, the first five chapters are written, and I hope to have the first draft done by the end of the summer.

FQ: Who do you want readers to remember most from this book? Why him/her?

BALTER: Marty and Bo are the central characters, and I think their relationship is what makes these books memorable. Bo is the more heroic of the two, a former college athlete and race car driver, who is a devoted family man. Marty is a less traditional hero - he’s an immigrant who has developed a scrappier and looser moral code. The two friends and business partners navigate danger with a mix of humorous banter and biting conversations that drive the story forward. Their loyalty is unshakable, even as the trouble they face threatens to pull them apart. Given the chaos they find themselves in, their friendship faces some serious challenges. And yet, as one reviewer said, “Despite their absurd aspirations, it's impossible not to root for them.”

FQ: You excel at capturing the minute aspects of Italy's history. Is this the result of research, experience, personal enthusiasm, or a combination of these?

BALTER: Thank you for the praise! It’s a combination of experience and research. I traveled to Italy many times in the early 2000s as part of my business dealings, and loved my experiences there. Some of the more vivid scenes in the book are based on those memories. For example, I attended the Papal Reconciliation Concert at the Vatican in January 2004, where my business partner and I sat next to Luciano Pavarotti. We also attended a post-concert party at the Palazzo dei Convertendi where the artist Raphael died in 1520. And, we visited the Vatican Observatory, where a 1726 edition of Isaac Newton’s Principia was casually tossed to me, leading to the anecdote in the cardinal’s office.

But after twenty years, many of the details of these events had faded, so I extensively researched every aspect of the scenes described. It was important to me to be accurate about the little details, from exactly which streets Marty and Bo walked to get from the Hotel Michelangelo to the Vatican, to which sculptures surmount St. Peter’s Basilica and the type of flowers that would have appeared on their breakfast table.

FQ: In The Vatican Deal, what novel thriller elements did you include that your readers could have missed in Chasing Money?

BALTER: Chasing Money has only one villain, a dangerously unpredictable Russian, Vasili, who kills Marty and Bo’s new business partner in the first chapter. He has a couple of henchmen who act under his orders, but never independently. The mystery in this book involves the missing money and the mysterious painting, but Marty and Bo’s opponent is clear from the beginning.

In contrast, in The Vatican Deal, Marty and Bo don’t know who is threatening them initially, and realize over time that they are facing multiple villains with opposing objectives. The Naples mafia wants them out of the deal for the Chiurazzi, and the Russian vory insists they stay in. Everyone is keeping secrets and telling lies. A dangerous figure from their past appears to threaten them. Someone they don’t suspect turns out to be a villain, while another proves to be a false friend. Then their partner Natalya is kidnapped, and Marty and Bo have to find a way to rescue her amid a mafia war.

FQ: What would you say to readers who might have recently come upon your exquisitely written and imaginative novels?

BALTER: I hope you’ll enjoy Chasing Money and The Vatican Deal, the first two books in the Marty and Bo thriller series. As a relatively new author, reviews are hugely important to me, so please share your thoughts on GoodReads, Amazon, BookBub, Barnes & Noble or wherever you get your books. If you’d like more information on the subjects I write about or updates on upcoming books, please visit my website at https://mbalter.com/ and sign up for my newsletter. Or, if you prefer, follow me on Facebook. I love to hear from readers!

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