An Empire for Ravens: A John the Lord Chamberlain Mystery

Reed and Mayer’s outstanding 12th whodunit set in the sixth century CE (after 2015’s Murder in Megara) takes John the Eunuch, a worshipper of the sun god Mithra and former lord chamberlain to Emperor Justinian, from Greece, where he has been in exile from Constantinople, to Rome, which is under siege by the Goths. General Felix, one of Justinian’s emissaries, has summoned John to help him deal with unspecified troubles. His arrival is viewed suspiciously by the general in charge of the Roman garrison, Diogenes, who dispatches a courier to determine whether Justinian knows that John has left Greece. To John’s further dismay, he learns that Felix has been missing for days, and he races to find him in the city’s labyrinthine catacombs. His explorations uncover a dead man, stabbed with an ancient knife used in ritual sacrifices. The cleverness of the plot and the solution to the murder are among the series’s best. (Oct.)