Synopsis
Nothing in Constantinople is as it should be this winter of 525. It is unnaturally cold and the imperial court has fallen under the sway of both the restless shade of the wife of the dying Emperor, Justin, and of the very much alive Theodora, the former actress his gravely ill successor Justinian intends to marry. The city is in turmoil thanks to constant friction among factions dressed in racing colors. Rivalry runs deep between the Greens, supported by Theodora who recalls their past kindness to her family, and the elegantly dressed young thugs styling themselves the Blues. Keeping them in order falls to Theodotus, the City Prefect, who is nicknamed The Gourd and is a man notoriously adept at slaughter and magick. Thus when a wealthy philanthropist is killed in broad daylight in the Great Church, it isn't entirely surprising that the future ruler Justinian engages an anonymous young slave called John to investigate what many believe could be part of a conspiracy aimed at swaying the succession. Among the suspects in the murder of the wealthy Hypatius, and all that follows, are many whose lives might be touched by an emperor: from senators, churchman, and wealthy businessmen to laborers, beggars, and prostitutes.
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Review
Gang-plagued streets, politicians plotting each other's downfall, poverty and homelessness existing side-by-side with manifest wealth--no, this isn’t modern-day Washington, D.C., but rather 6th-century Constantinople, as portrayed by Mary Reed and Eric Mayer in Four for a Boy. A prequel to their three previous novels featuring John the Eunuch, Lord Chamberlain to Byzantine Emperor Justinian I, this nimble and scrupulously plotted tale finds John still a mercenary-turned-slave in the palace of Justinian's predecessor, Justin I. He hardly seems the right man to take on a "defense of the empire." Yet after a philanthropist is murdered in the city's Great Church, where he’d gone to visit a controversial statue of Christ, John is assigned, along with a German palace guard (and fellow pagan), to ferret out the killer and maybe also to act the role of spy in a web of rivalries involving the current and future emperors, as well as an imperious city prefect--"the Gourd"--with a misshapen head and supposedly magical powers. Not until a marble importer is slain does a solution to these odd crimes emerge.
Reed and Mayer excel at crafting royal intrigues, especially the plot by Justinian’s mendacious lover, Theodora, to wrest control of the former Eastern Roman Empire from Justin, whose senescence has him parlaying at length with his dead wife. They are clever, too, in creating action sequences (such as one in which John tries to "fly" from pursuers on Icarus-like wings) that fit their historical setting. It's only too bad that the authors don’t do more in this prequel to fill in John’s backstory, and that they force him to spend most of his time here in an annoying pique, his violent castration and lowly position frustrating his desire to return the affections of a senator's daughter. --J. Kingston Pierce
About the Author
In this prequel to the series, John the Eunuch takes his first dangerous steps along the path that will lead towards freedom from slavery and holding high office as Lord Chamberlain. Before he can track down the murderer, John must first win the respect of Felix, the excubitor reluctantly assisting him, discourage the advances of the romantic but nave Lady Anna, and make peace with his own fate. The husband and wife team of Mary Reed and Eric Mayer had published several short John the Eunuch detections in mystery anthologies and in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine prior to 1999's highly acclaimed first full length novel, One for Sorrow.
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