It's a hot summer night in 548 CE Constantinople and Emperor Justinian, distraught from the death of his Empress Theodora, has exiled John, the Lord Chamberlain. At the Church of the Holy Apostles, an Egyptian magician tries to raise the empress from the dead. As the unholy ceremony explodes into chaos, supposed demons vanish into the darkness with one of the city’s holiest relics, a fragment of the shroud of the Virgin. Felix, Captain of the Palace Guard, is selected as John’s successor. Already juggling his gambling debts, political maneuverings, and an ambitious new mistress, Felix is charged with finding the missing relic, as well. But before Felix’s investigation even begins, someone deposits a corpse at his house. A botched attempt to dispose of the body leaves Felix looking suspect. To make matters worse, it seems as if half the city wants to possess the relic, see Felix dead―or both. If only Felix’s friend, the shrewd John, were still in the city, but the former Lord Chamberlain has already sailed for Greece. Now Felix enters a fight for his very survival, a crucible in which he cannot cannot tell friend from foe―or worldly dangers from the supernatural.

Product Description: Praise for One for Sorrow... "An enticing picture of sixth-century Byzantium...and the traffic in holy artifacts [in] the early history of Christianity." -Publishers Weekly In Byzantium, the capital of the 6th century Roman Empire, annual games are held to celebrate the founding of the city...read more

The year is 548 and Empress Theodora is dead of disease. Or so everyone in Constantinople, capital of the Roman Empire, believes. Everyone except Emperor Justinian, who orders John, his Lord Chamberlain, tofind her murderer or suffer the consequences.There is no sign of foul play, but many of the aristocrats at the imperial court had good reason to want Theodora dead. Suspects include General Artabanes, forced to occupy a house with an unloved wife; Justinian’s cousin Germanus, who has seen his career blocked; and Antonina and her husband General Belisarius, enraged by Theodora’s attempt to marry their daughter to her grandson by compelling the young couple to live together. Could the exiled and much hated former tax collector John the Cappadocian have played a role? Might Gaius, palace physician, have tampered with Theodora’s medication? Pope Vigilius, detained in the capital due to a religious controversy, is not above suspicion. Even John’s friends, the lawyer Anatolius and Felix, captain of the place guards, are acting strangely.As if seeking a murderer who seems to be a gment of the emperor’s grief-deranged imagination isn’t dif cult enough, John must also grapple with domestic upheavals. His daughter, living on an estate outside the city, 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? 

Product Description: Is it the end of an era or a move toward eternity? In January 532, mobs rule Constantinople, capital of the Roman Empire. Against a murderous backdrop lit by raging fires, John, chamberlain to Emperor Justinian, must find those seeking to use the Nika riots to dethrone the emperor...read more

Product Description: Lord Chamberlain John spends his days counseling Emperor Justinian while passing the small hours of night in conversation with the solemn-eyed little girl depicted in a mosaic on his study wall. He never expected to meet her in a public square or afterwards find her red-dyed corpse in a subterranean cistern...read more

Product Description: In January 532 mobs ruled Constantinople, capital of the Roman Empire. Against a murderous backdrop lit by raging fires, John, Chamberlain to Emperor Justinian, must find those seeking to use the Nika Riots to dethrone the emperor...read more

Emperor Justinian sends his Lord Chamberlain John the Eunuch to Mehenopolis, a remote pilgrim destination that is home to an ancient shrine dedicated to a snake deity, to investigate the killings of local sheep, while back at home in Constantinople, Anatolius must find the killer of a senator, a crime in which John has become the prime suspect.

Who killed the mosaic girl? As Lord Chamberlain, John spends his days counseling Emperor Justinian while passing the small hours of night in conversation with the solemn-eyed little girl depicted in a mosaic on his study wall. He never expected to meet her in a public square or afterwards find her red-dyed corpse in a subterranean cistern. Had the mysterious woman truly been the model for the mosaic years before as she claimed? Who was she? Why had she sought John out? Who wanted her dead -- and why?The answers seem to lie among the denizens of the smoky streets of that quarter of Constantinople known as the Copper Market, where artisans, beggars, prostitutes, pillar saints, and exiled aristocrats struggle to survive within sight of the Great Palace and yet worlds distant. John encounters a faded actress, a patriotic sausage maker, a sundial maker who fears the sun, a religious visionary, a man who lives in a treasure trove, and a beggar who owes his life to a cartload of melons. Before long he suspects he is attempting to unravel not just a murder but a plot against the empire. Or is John really on a personal quest, to find the reality behind the confidante he thought existed only in his own imagination? Is there such a thing as truth in a place where people live on memories, dreams, and illusions? Even if there is, can John push aside the shadows and find the truth in time?

In sixth-century Constantinople, John the Eunuch, Lord Chamberlain to the Byzantine emperor Justinian, is assigned to defend the empire by attempting the daring capture of a murderer responsible for the death of a philanthropist in the Great Church. Reprint.

In the year 542, John the Lord Chamberlain investigates the death of his elderly servant's old army friend in Constantinople, where he is faced with a wealth of suspects, including a court poet and a holy fool, and finds nothing is what it seems in this city rife with plague, terror, and discord.

In sixth-century Constantinople, John the Eunuch, a Justinian palace slave, is assigned to defend the empire by attempting the daring capture of a murderer responsible for the death of a philanthropist in the Great Church.

In sixth-century Constantinople, eight-year old twins are the key to Emperor Justinian's plans to resurrect the crumbling Roman Empire, but when one of them is murdered, John the Eunuch is charged with the task of finding the guilty party.

Product Description: ""This is a very intelligent novel; its examination of the nature of belief and faith (and deception) is as insightful and well reasoned as some book-length nonfiction treatments of the same subjects. Add to that a rich and fascinating setting, a solid mystery, and a few surprises, and you have a novel that will capture the interest of anyone who picks it up...read more

Product Description: Byzantium, capitol of the 6th century Roman Empire, simmers a rich stew of creeds, cultures, and citizens with a sprinkling of cutthroats and crimes. John the Eunuch, Emperor Justinian's Lord Chamberlain, orders a Christian court while himself observing the rites of Mithra...read more