I used to dislike Caterina de Medici because of all the "political lies" stated about her mostly by French authors and people who basically re-wrote books about her without actually checking their historical facts, much like books about the Borgia.

That is until I found a book entitled "Catherine de Medici and the lost revolution" by Ralph Roeder. Brilliant and incredibly well detailed biography of her life. I highly recommend it, more so then that fluff that recently came out about her.