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Paperback / ISBN-13: 9780755328819

Price: £9.99

ON SALE: 4th December 2006

Genre: Fiction & Related Items / Historical Fiction

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Rome: August 314 AD, and as the sun’s insidious heat beats down, murderous forces lurk in the underbelly of the city. The normally cosseted world of Rome’s rich and powerful is rocked by a series of violent abductions, as children of the elite are kidnapped and held for ransom. Meanwhile, veteran soldiers, men who served Constantine along the Great Wall in northern Britain are being barbarously murdered; the indignities inflicted on their corpses reminiscent of the gruesome practices of the Picts whom they fought so many years ago.

The Empress Helena summons her secret agent, Claudia, in a bid to resolve these macabre occurrences. But Claudia has problems of her own. The perfectly preserved corpse of a young Christian woman has been disinterred in her uncle’s garden and it falls to her to investigate this mystery too. Now she must track her way through a murky tangle of politics, religion and murderous violence, ever aware that the slightest mistake could cost her life.

Reviews

Praise for Paul Doherty's other novels: 'I really like these medieval whodunnits
Bookseller
A romping good read
Time Out
Historically informative, excellently plotted and, as ever, superbly entertaining
CADS 20
This rich tale ... seeps authenticity and is written with wonderfully efficient style. A gem of an historical thriller
Huddersfield Daily Examiner