Description: Emperor Justinian's former Lord Chamberlain, John, receives an urgent message from an old friend summoning him to Rome, but once there, he finds his friend vanished and the mysteries mounting.
Brief description:
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.
Review Quotes: "Reed and Mayer's outstanding 12th whodunit set in the sixth century CE takes John the Eunuch, a worshipper of the sun god Mithra and former lord chamberlain to Emperor Justinian, from Greece, where he has been in exile from Constantinople, to Rome, which is under siege by the Goths...The cleverness of the plot and the solution to the murder are among the series's best. " -- Publishers Weekly STARRED Review