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A eunuch archpriest and an unscrupulous senator smuggle products from China to Italy that will
change the course of western history.
Surgeon Getorius Asterius, his wife Arcadia, the eunuch archpriest of a pagan fertility cult, the
female head of a heretical Arian church, and an ambitious senator in league with a Chinese merchant: these are the prime movers in this mystery set in Ravenna, Italy, in A.D. 440. When Getorius is summoned to examine the castrated body of a youth found by Thecla in her Arian church, who is the sobbing "Vestal Virgin" nearby? Why is the senator smuggling counterfeit Western coins to the Eastern Empire, and contraband Chinese products back to Ravenna? Thecla's coded message leads to a secret tunnel and the sinister temple of Cybele, whose devotees are self-mutilated eunuchs. In a stunning climax, the conspirators try to escape Ravenna, planning to sell one product in Egypt, but failing to recognize the far more deadly nature of the other.
See details about the precursor to this book.
About the Author
 With degrees in art, art education and the humanities, Albert Noyer's career includes working in commercial and fine art, teaching in the Detroit Public Schools and at private colleges.
He lives in New Mexico, and has previously published another historical mystery, The Saint's
Day Deaths, and the precursor to this book, The Secundus Papyrus.
Author website
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