7 FOR A SECRET

Praise for Seven for a Secret... "This isn't one of those superficial mysteries that use historical trappings to cover up a weak story; it's a compelling crime novel that happens to be set in another time and place." -Booklist Lord Chamberlain John spends his days counseling Emperor Justinian and passes the small hours of night in conversation with the solemn-eyed little girl depicted in a mosaic on his study wall. He never expected to meet her in a public square or afterwards find her red-dyed corpse in a subterranean cistern. Had the mysterious woman truly been the model for the mosaic years before as she claimed? Why had she sought John out? Who wanted her dead-and why? The answers seem to lie among the denizens of the smoky streets of the quarter of Constantinople known as the Copper Market, where artisans, beggars, prostitutes, pillar saints, and exiled aristocrats struggle to survive within sight of the Great Palace. In his investigations, John encounters a faded actress, a patriotic sausage maker, a sundial maker who fears the sun, a religious visionary, a man who lives in a treasure trove, and a beggar who owes his life to a cartload of melons. But before long he suspects he is attempting to unravel not just a murder but a plot against the empire.... The John the Lord Chamberlain series has earned numerous accolades for the husband and wife team of Mary Reed and Eric Mayer. In June 2003, Booklist Magazine named the novels one of its four "Best Little Known Series." http: //home.earthlink.net/ maywrite