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Smuggled Chinese products could change
the fortunes of a dying Western Roman Empire |
 TobyPress.com |
The Cybelene Conspiracy
by Albert Noyer
A eunuch archpriest and an unscrupulous senator smuggle products from China to Italy that will change the course of western history.
Surgeon Getorius Asterius, his wife Arcadia, the eunch archpriest of a pagan fertility cult, the female head of a heretical Arian church, and an ambitious senator in league with a Chinese merchant: these are the prime movers in this mystery set in Ravenna, Italy, in A.D. 440. When Getorius is summoned to examined the castrated body of a youth found by Thecla in her Arian church, who is the sobbing "Vestal Virgin" nearby?
Why is the senator smuggling counterfeit Western coins to the Eastern Empire, and contraband Chinese products to Ravenna?
Thecla's coded message leads to a secret tunnel and the sinister temple of Cybele, whose devotees are self-mutilated eunuchs. In a stunning climax, the conspirators try to espcape Ravenna, planning to sell one product in Egypt, but failing to recognize the far more deadly nature of the other.
Map of Ravenna
Map of Gaul, Italy, Dalmatia
May 2005
ISBN I 59264 033 8 PB, 400 pages, USA $14.95 UK £9.99
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| ALBERT NOYER was born in Switzerland and raised in Detroit, Michigan. With degrees in art, art education and the humanities, his career includes working in commercial and fine art, teaching art at the vocational level in the Detroit Public Schools, and art history at St. Mary's College. He lives in New Mexico with his wife, Jennifer, and previously published The Saint's Day Deaths, his first 5th century mystery and The Secundus Papyrus which is the precursor to this book. |
The Critics Write
"Even amidst the flourishing of historical mysteries this setting (about which most of us know utterly nothing) is unique and I found it fascinating."
COLLIER BROWN/POWELL BOOKS
"Well-written, serious and excellently researched. . .Noyer has the ability to bring characters and their environment to life and build a satisfying suspense."
IRENE HAHN/ROMAN HISTORY READING GROUP
Toby Crime
More Publisher's & Reader's Comments |
Mr Noyer's presentation includes:
- A Timeline and discussion of the last hundred years of the Western Roman Empire, A.D. 378-476, with emphasis on fifth century medicines, religion and society.
- Displays of his original maps of Ravenna in the novel, Roman coins and other artifacts.
- Slide presentaion of pagan Roman cults, Early Christian art.
- Parallels between the "fall" of Rome and the situation in America today.
©2007 Albert Noyer. All graphics, photographs, and text appearing on AlbertNoyer.com are protected by copyright. Redistribution or commercial use is prohibited without express written permission of the author/artist.
Site produced and maintained for Albert by kathleen h. edwards |
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