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. Several courtiers, obliged by office to attend, idly watch the chariot races and the bear baiting from the imperial box. Suddenly they--and the crowd-are electrified as a magnificent bull surges into the arena. Those who worship Mithra make quiet reverance to the sacred animal while a trio of bull leapers enters in his wake. John, Lord Chamberlain to the Christian Emperor, is among those surprised into breathing tribute. He soon receives a further shock: surely the lovely young girl vaulting the beast had once been his lover. Later, making his way home through the thronged streets, John stumbles over the body of his friend Leukos, Keeper of the Plate. There are plenty of witnesses: an Egyptian brothel keeper, a young mason working on the Church of the Holy Wisdom, a mad stylite, a henpecked innkeeper, and the bull leapers from Crete. Now duty and guilt demand that John discover the murderer.... The husband and wife team of Mary Reed and Eric Mayer published One for Sorrow, their first full-length novel featuring John, Lord Chamberlain to Emperor Justinian, in 1999. The series has since received much praise and several awards, including the Arizona Book Award, the IPPY Best Mystery Award, and the Bruce Alexander History Mystery Award. home.earthlink.net/~maywrite

Ambition, intrigue, treachery, murder-another Byzantine mystery... 548 CE, Constantinople. The emperor Justinian, distraught from the death of his wife Theodora, has exiled John, the Lord Chamberlain. Soon after, an Egyptian magician tries to raise the empress from the dead. The unholy ceremony goes awry, and in the aftermath, supposed demons vanish into the night along with one of the city's holiest relics. Felix, Captain of the Palace Guard, is selected as John's successor and charged with recovering the artifact. But it seems as if half the city wants to possess the relic, see Felix dead-or both. Worse still, Felix's friend, the shrewd John, 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. The husband and wife team of Mary Reed and Eric Mayer co-author the award-winning John, Lord Chamberlain, historical mysteries set in 6th century Byzantium. http: //home.earthlink.net/ maywrite/