The Fisherman's Tomb: The True Story of the Vatican's Secret Search

A short book, focused on the history of the finding of St. Peter's tomb underneath the main altar in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City. Despite it's briefness, the book does an excellent job covering ancient history; then picking up with the relatively modern history, starting in the early days of the 20th Century, through World War II, to the announcement by the current pope in 2013, that the bones of St. Peter had been found.

I also enjoyed the author's examination of the misogyny which affected the archaeology of Margherita Guarducci and very likely delayed the ultimate recovery of the relics by many years.

The appendices are excellent. I especially enjoyed Appendix III, "The Story of Vatican Hill," with it's accompanying diagrams.

An excellent and enjoyable book on the story of the finding of St. Peter's tomb under the Vatican. Interestingly, an inscription of "In hoc signo vinces” was found near it, contemporary to the life of Constantine. The story may be legendary, but it was circulating during his lifetime! I enjoyed the telling of the people involved in the search, including the amazing work of Margherita Guarducci and a young Monsignor Montini (later Pope St. Paul VI) traveling across America to Colorado. A good read overall and one I highly recommend!

Interesting topic but poorly written. The narrative jumps around, which is confusing, and it leans excessively on foreshadowing in an attempt to make things interesting. Detail is added to tangential topics but rarely included for the actual focus. This has the depth of a magazine article but uses repetition makes it longer.