Five for Silver

John the Eunuch #5

by Mary Reed

The year is 542. While plague stalks Constantinople, an angel sets John the Eunuch on the trail of a human killer. Peter, John's elderly servant, claims a heavenly visitor revealed a murder to him. It transpires Peter's old army friend has indeed been stabbed, but then John discovers that Gregory was not what he appeared to be. Is the solution to the mystery to be found in a hidden identity, in the will made by a dying ship owner with a wayward son, or perhaps even amid the oracles in the merchant's garden? John's quest leads him to churchmen and whores, lawyers and bear trainers. Suspects include a dealer in dubious antiquities, a resourceful bookseller, a court poet fixated on bereavement, and a holy fool who outrages the city by dancing with the dead and invading the empress' private bath. Only a man of unbending principle could hope to find justice in a terrified city where the good and the bad are struck down indiscriminately, where disorder rules, and where witnesses may die before they can be questioned. A city, in short, where death is the murderer's accomplice.

Genres: Historical Mystery, Historical Fiction, Mystery

290 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 1, 2004

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Mary Reed and Eric Mayer began writing together in 1992. They have contributed to a number of anthologies such as Royal Whodunnits, MammothBook of Historical Whodunnits and Mammoth Book of Shakespearean Detectives, as well as to Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. They have also published several short stories set in and around the 6th century Constantinople court of Emperor Justinian I as well as four (to date) novels about their protagonist John the Eunuch, Lord Chamberlain to the emperor. The series was listed as one of four Best Little-Known Series in Booklist Magazine in 2003, and a Greek edition of the first novel, One For Sorrow, appeared in late 2002. They live in Pennsylvania.

Reviews

[Anna Bergmark · Rating 1 out of 5]

The plague must be the main character of this installment. The look of it, the smell of it, the sheer horror of it. Yes. Having finished the book I can still remember the plague. But the plot..?

The plot was so pointless I kept forgetting it while turning from one page to another. It simply would not stick, however hard I tried. Instead I struggled to find a speck of interest in other things, like Anatolius' romantic endeavors, but it was no use. The story was as dull as dodo droppings.

One measly anorexic star to a book so meager and thin that it seemed endless. An oxymoron you say? Yeah. I sure was an oxy moron for not quitting halfway in. I could of have read something more exciting instead. Like the telephone directory.

(Six more installments to go, binge bought. Oh, deary, deary me! I'm beginning to dread this!)

[Margareth8537 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am enjoying this series, and gradually catching up on them. Can't remember where I first saw them mentioned, but the setting is beautifully done, and I like the way in which John's background is gradually filling in