DEATH IN BYZANTIUM: At the heart of what is left of the Roman Empire, lies a city simmering with intrigue & treachery. Amid this maelstrom stands John, a slave who has risen to become the right hand of Justinian, the greatest of Byzantium's emperors. With violence and murder commonplace, it is John's skills as an investigator that the Emperor prizes the most.

SIX FOR GOLD: AD 542. John is chained and imprisoned, accused of murdering an imperial senator – and worse a favourite of the infamous empress Theodora. His life is almost certainly forfeit but Justinian spirits him out of Constantinople and to a remote Egyptian shrine. Why? And what is the connection between a series of brutal deaths in this remote outpost and what happened in Constantinople? If John can stay alive long enough, he may just find the key to returning home.