Best writer of historical fiction

I just finished Imprimatur by Rita Monaldi and Francesco Sorti. The story is set in Rome in 1683, during the siege of Vienna. After the mysterious death of a guest, a small group of people have to stay in quarantaine in a Roman inn. The writer of a journal and a secret agent from the court of Louis XIV try to find the murderer.

Imprimatur is Latin for "let it be printed." When a Roman Catholic bishop grants his imprimatur to a printed work, he assures the reader that nothing therein is contrary to Catholic faith or morals. Actually the book was  the victim of a boycott campaign orchestrated by the Vatican. The authors depicted an image of Pope Innocent XI as a selfish politician, betraying the Roman Catholic churchs interests in the hope of recovering a personal debt from William of Orange by financing his invasion of England (Glorious Revolution). The book is based on historical research by the authors and contains an appendix of forty pages with notes and sources.

Originally posted by Infidel Gordianus rules, indeed! I must say I admire the man

Actually from "Gordianus" series i find only first book to be average. Every next book is worse than previous. Characters are not realistic and i think the whole story is not well written. For me Stephen Saylor is a second or even third sort writter who cannot be campared to - for example Colleen McCullough. Her roman books are much better.

Call me "Old School", but I've always been a fan of Sir Walter Scott--Ivanhoe was awesome, and The Talisman was even better (despite Scott's penchant for portraying the Templars as sinister).