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Summary
Summary
"[A] spot-on recreation of the political and bureaucratic climate of the times." --Publishers Weekly STARRED review
The year is 548 and Empress Theodora is dead. Emperor Justinian suspects murder and orders John, his Lord Chamberlain, to find her killer or suffer the consequences. Many aristocrats at the imperial court had reason to want Theodora dead. General Artabanes, Justinian's cousin Germanus, and Antonina and her husband General Belisarius have suffered at Theodora's hands. Might Gaius, palace physician, have tampered with Theodora's medication? Even Pope Vigilius, detained in the capital by a religious controversy, is not above suspicion.
Meanwhile, John must also grapple with domestic upheavals. His daughter is about to give birth and his aging servant Peter is dying. Will John be able to serve justice, his loved ones, and the emperor?
Author Notes
The husband and wife team of Mary Reed and Eric Mayer published several short stories about John, Lord Chamberlain to Emperor Justinian, in mystery anthologies and in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine prior to 1999's highly acclaimed first full length novel, One for Sorrow. Entries in the series have been honored by a Best Mystery Glyph Award, an honorable mention in the Glyph Best Book category, and was a finalist for the IPPY Best Mystery Award (Two for Joy), nominations for the Bruce Alexander Memorial Historical Mystery Award (Four for a Boy and Five for Silver), and a Glyph Award for Best Book Series (Five for Silver). The American Library Association's Booklist Magazine named the Lord Chamberlain novels one of its four Best Little Known Series.
Mary Reed & Eric Mayer also write under Eric Reed.
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
In Reed and Mayer's superior ninth mystery set in sixth-century Constantinople (after 2010's Eight for Eternity), Justinian sets John, the emperor's lord chamberlain, an almost impossible, high-stakes task. John must discover who killed Justinian's wife, Empress Theodora, who has died after a long and painful illness. John is skeptical that Theodora was poisoned, especially since access to the empress was strictly limited, but he fears his family may suffer if he fails to please the capricious dictator, rumored to be a demon in human form. Since many people had reason to want Theodora dead, John has to work his way through every reasonable possibility while dreading the end of Justinian's patience. The puzzle is challenging enough to keep readers searching for clues, but the triumph of the authors lies in their spot-on recreation of the political and bureaucratic climate of the times. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
How can you find a killer who doesn't exist? Much loathed roman empress Theodora wastes away from disease, her husband Justinian constantly by her side, her attendants Vesta and Kuria fetching and fretting, Gaius the court physician prescribing potions, her best friend Antonina sending in get-well packets and various clerics offering up prayers for her. Nonetheless, she succumbs, and Justinian, demented with grief, calls in John, his Lord Chamberlain, and demands that he identify her murderer. With his wife off to assist their daughter in childbirth and his aged manservant Peter practically at death's door, John alone must deal with the enmity between Christians and Mithranians, generals with political aspirations and lovers whose romances Theodora had manipulated. Did someone poison the empress? The palace gardens were rife with foxglove, and almost everyone had access to it. The palace torturers heat up their instruments, and the palace guards knock on doors in the dead of night to send possible suspects to the dungeons. John's best friends lie to him, and the emperor has him in his sights as his wife's nemesis until John, once again communing with Zoe, the little girl depicted on a mosaic in his home, pinpoints exactly by whose hand Theodora died. Whores, beggars, lawyers, even a tax collector and a pope wander around Constantinople's back alleys, brothels, kitchens and church sanctum sanctorums. What a relief for John (Eight for Eternity, 2010, etc.) to be finally freed of his duties and prepare to take his household off to Greece.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal Review
Emperor Justinian wants John (Eight for Eternity) to investigate Empress Theodora's murder, but perhaps the Emperor is mistaken as to how she died. The authors once again make the Byzantine Empire vibrant and nuanced. [See Prepub Alert, 11/14/11.] (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.