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The Byzantine Cipher: A Historical Thriller
In the summer of 968, a German marriage embassy enters Constantinople while a German spy hunts the secret of Greek Fire.
When Bishop Liutprand of Cremona brings twenty-five men ashore to negotiate with Emperor Nikephoros II Phokas for a Byzantine princess to marry Otto's son, Lukas von Mainz travels in the column as a translator. His true mission for Emperor Otto is to learn the patrol routes of the Byzantine fleet and the siphon mechanisms that make Greek Fire work.
Someone in the German delegation tipped off the Greeks before the embassy even docked. While Lukas hunts the leak from a poorly maintained marble house watched from across the street, he discovers that young embassy priest Father Aldric is unwittingly confessing his observations of the embassy to a Venetian spy working for Duke Arnulf of Bavaria. Then a dying eunuch named Stephanos, once assistant to the admiral who commands the imperial fleet, offers Lukas the fleet's secrets in exchange for safe passage west for his wife and two children.
Joined by his old comrade Hrolf, a Norseman in the emperor's foreign guard, Lukas must weigh an alliance offered by Empress Theophano and breach the Mangana Arsenal on a feast night, before the Byzantine spymaster Basil Lekapenos and his people piece the picture together.
When Bishop Liutprand of Cremona brings twenty-five men ashore to negotiate with Emperor Nikephoros II Phokas for a Byzantine princess to marry Otto's son, Lukas von Mainz travels in the column as a translator. His true mission for Emperor Otto is to learn the patrol routes of the Byzantine fleet and the siphon mechanisms that make Greek Fire work.
Someone in the German delegation tipped off the Greeks before the embassy even docked. While Lukas hunts the leak from a poorly maintained marble house watched from across the street, he discovers that young embassy priest Father Aldric is unwittingly confessing his observations of the embassy to a Venetian spy working for Duke Arnulf of Bavaria. Then a dying eunuch named Stephanos, once assistant to the admiral who commands the imperial fleet, offers Lukas the fleet's secrets in exchange for safe passage west for his wife and two children.
Joined by his old comrade Hrolf, a Norseman in the emperor's foreign guard, Lukas must weigh an alliance offered by Empress Theophano and breach the Mangana Arsenal on a feast night, before the Byzantine spymaster Basil Lekapenos and his people piece the picture together.
216 pages, Hardcover
Published March 2, 2026
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