Byzantine Mystery

Rome, 609 AD. Empire is a fading memory. Repeatedly fought over and plundered, the City is falling into ruins. Filth and rubble block the streets. Killers prowl by night. Far off, in Constantinople, the Emperor has other concerns. The Church is the one institution left intact, and is now flexing its own imperial muscle. Enter Aelric of England: young and beautiful, sexually uninhibited, heroic, if ruthlessly violent He’s only here by accident. Without getting that girl pregnant, and the resulting near-miss from King Ethelbert’s gelding knife, he might never have left Kent. But here ...

612 AD. Athens is no longer the bright centre of civilisation, but a provincial backwater in a fraying Empire. So why has the Emperor diverted Aelric’s ship from Egypt and ordered him here? And why is Priscus — brutal, treacherous Priscus — included in the warrant? Aelric ought to be saving the Empire’s finances; Priscus ought to be leading its armies against the Persians. Has Heraclius decided to blame them for the bloodbath in Alexandria? Or is the truth far more dangerous? Officially, Aelric’s task is to “manage” a council of Eastern and Western bishops, men more inclined ...

"An extraordinary series" - The Morning Star Step into the world of 615 AD, where heroism and the fate of the Byzantine Empire converge in the conclusion to this prose epic of six massive novels. In the heart of the vast and morally bankrupt city of Constantinople, Aelric of England, now known as the Lord Senator Alaric, stands on the brink of absolute authority. As an insane Persian tyrant prepares to deliver a killing blow to the Byzantine Empire, Alaric appears nearly as powerful as the Emperor himself. Seemingly without opposition, he wields his influence from the confines of his ...

A gripping spy memoir that unravels a world of power, corruption, and high-stakes diplomacy. Set against the backdrop of the Vatican, the Kremlin, and a master chess player with a hidden agenda, this riveting narrative explores the intersection of centuries-old conflicts and modern-day geopolitics. As the story weaves through diplomatic maneuvers and oil pipeline rivalries—from Africa and the Middle East to Xinjiang, China—it exposes the dark underbelly of international lobbying in Washington and London. At the heart of this saga is a retired ambassador, who is now working for one of ...

Murder in holiday paradise It is springtime on Páros. After a break of ten years, the former homicide detective, Christína Strátou returns to work for the local police force on the holiday island. What was supposed to be an easy job quickly turns to one of her biggest cases yet. On a hike, she discovers the dead body of a young woman. Ostracized by her new colleagues, they focus on one suspect only: The husband who has also disappeared. But Christína’s instincts and distinctive experience lead towards a different path. What if the husband is not the prime suspect but the most ...

When jeweller Fahrettin Muftugolu is found dead in his apartment in the Istanbul district of Vefa, it looks like suicide. Searching the jeweller's home, Inspector Mehmet Suleyman and his team come across a hoard of extraordinary artefacts including solid gold religious relics and a mummified human head. But are they real and, if so, who owns these priceless possessions?

In 1453 the collapse of Byzantine Orthodox Christianity's most sacred City, Constantinople, radiated shocks through the entirety of the Christian world. Symbolically, the Islamic Ottoman Turks had made Santa Sophia, the most famous Christian church in the world, into a mosque. Any doubts that there was a now an Ottoman Empire poised to conquer the Christian West were dispelled. But the history around the collapse itself was surrounded with loose ends and oddities.

The bubonic plague was the worst affliction ever visited upon Europe and the Mediterranean world. Within a few short years, a quarter of the population was taken after a short but torturous illness. Those who escaped faced famine and economic hardship. Crops were left unsown; the harvests spoiled for lack of harvesters; villages, towns, and great cities were depopulated. Markets were destroyed; and trade ground to a halt. It must have seemed like the end of the world to the terrified populace.