John the Lord Chamberlain spends his days counseling Emperor Justinian and passes 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 to 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? Why had she sought John out? Who wanted her dead? The answers seem to lie among the denizens of the smoky streets of Constantinople.

Before long John suspects he is attempting to unravel not just a murder but a plot against the empire. Is there such a thing as truth in a place where people live on memories, dreams, and illusions? If so, can John push aside the shadows?

The husband and wife team of Mary Reed and Eric Mayer has now published seven mysteries in their John the Lord Chamberlain mystery series. The couple lives and writes in Pennsylvania.
http://home.epix.net/~maywrite

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.