Eight for Eternity

Is it the end of an era or a move toward eternity?

In January 532, mobs rule Constantinople, capital of the Roman Empire. Against a murderous backdrop lit by raging fires, John, chamberlain to Emperor Justinian, must find those seeking to use the Nika riots to dethrone the emperor.

Porphyrius, the most famous charioteer of his time, may know more than he tells about the mysterious disappearance of two men under imperial guard. What role is being played by a pair of brothers with a distant claim on the throne? Does a headstrong young girl hold the key to the mystery? With the fate of the empire at stake, will General Belisarius and his armed troops side with the rioters or remain loyal to Justinian?

To some the riots portend the end of the empire; to others, the end of the world itself. John must untangle a web of intrigue in a city where death holds court at every corner.

About the ''John the Lord Chamberlain'' Mystery series: These are mystery novels chronicling the cases solved by one John the Eunuch, Lord Chamberlain to Justinian I and are set primarily in Constantinople in the mid-sixth century, at the height of the Byzantine Empire. The stories are well-grounded from a historical point of view, and they're also Grade-A detective fiction in the traditional sense, with plenty of comic relief.