Stiletto for ranging distance. The stiletto was later adopted throughout Italy as the favored offensive thrusting knife ("arma manesca") of the medieval assassin,<ref name="ATK"/ so much so that it was invariably prohibited as a treacherous weapon ("arma insidiosa") by the authorities of the day. The stiletto was preferred by assassins as it was silent, easily concealed inside a sleeve or jacket, and featured a blade capable of easily penetrating the heavy leather and fabric clothing of the day, while inflicting mortal wounds that tended to bleed less than those made by other types of knives. In Italy, the stiletto began to
The Black Stiletto the vigilante's image and mystique was exploited by the media in comics, films, and action figures. "Who was the Black Stiletto?" became a catch-question like "Who shot JFK?" "The Black Stiletto" was released in the US on 5 September 2011. As part of the promotional process for the novel, a free downloadable teaser short story, "The Black Stiletto's Autograph" was made available on the official website. Reviewing "The Black Stiletto", academic Dr Wesley Britton noted that "verisimilitude is one strength of what could have been just a comic-book romp without pictures" and that because of this, the novel was "a