Murder in Ephesus

​Spunky heroine pursues an intriguing mystery in a vivid and well-drawn setting—recipe for a read I couldn't put down! The setting is late first-century Ephesus where Christians are a forbidden underground sect. Benjamin, a young scribe, is poisoned at a secret meeting where the newly copied scroll of the prophet Isaiah is about to be read. There is no shortage of suspects from his landlord to work colleagues to an obnoxious rival, but it is Bishop Apollos who confesses to the murder so that the other Christians will not come to the attention of authorities demanding worship of the emperor as a living god or death as a traitor. Sabina's father is the magistrate, and the last thing he wants is for his daughter's forbidden faith to be exposed. She teams up with Benjamin's Jewish brother to track down the clues and discover the truth. In the process we roam this ancient harbor city, entering homes, businesses, and even a pagan temple for the meeting of a Gnostic cult. The author shows us a culture very different from our own in a natural way without making us feel like we are getting a history lecture. Bravo! I look forward to the next installment in this series.

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