A thrilling magical mystery set in a re-imagined Renaissance Venice

Twelve-year-old Bianca feels like the luckiest girl in Venice. She's apprenticed to the most famous painter in the world - Annunzio di Lombardi - and she's learning all the tricks of the trade in the most glamorous and powerful place in the city: the Duchess's Palace. But one night disaster strikes. Bianca's beloved Lombardi is given a poisoned cup of wine at a party, and collapses - but not before giving Bianca a magical paintbrush, which allows her to travel through hidden doorways throughout the city. Bianca will have to use all of her pluck, courage and cunning to find out who tried to hurt her master - and to discover what is wrong with the Duchess, who is behaving very strangely indeed...

THE LAST APPRENTICE is a delightful and exciting mystery perfect for middle-grade readers looking for feisty heroines, sinister baddies and a good dash of magic and suspense.

ABOUT THE AUTHORImogen Rossi grew up in London but her favourite place in the world is Venice during the Carnival. She spent most of her summer holidays in Italy where she passed the time doodling and writing stories. She loves to paint, though she isn't very good at it, and she sings in a choir. She most enjoys stories involving mystery, magic and time travel. She has a collection of Venetian carnival masks and two cats named Leonardo and Michelangelo (Lenny and Mike for short).

REVIEWSA glorious escapde', Julia Eccleshare, Lovereading4kids