Umberto Eco

Brother William's search for heresy in a 14th-century Italian abbey is interrupted by seven bizarre deaths in seven terrifying days. In 1327, Brother William of Baskerville is sent to investigate charges of heresy against Franciscan monks at a wealthy Italian abbey but finds his mission overshadowed by seven bizarre murders.

"19th-century Europe--from Turin to Prague to Paris--abounds with the ghastly and the mysterious. Jesuits plot against Freemasons. In Italy, republicans strangle priests with their own intestines. In France, during the Paris Commune, people eat mice, plan bombings and rebellions in the streets, and celebrate Black Masses. Every nation has its own secret service, perpetrating conspiracies and even massacres. There are false beards, false lawyers, false...

Three editors conspire to devise a plan of their own about European history. As they feed all the information into their computer, they think it is a terrific joke--until people begin to mysteriously disappear.