Product Details
Two for Joy

Two for Joy
By Mary Reed, Eric Mayer

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Product Description

Reed and Mayer combine the scholarship of Steven Saylor with the humor of Lindsey Davis. Starred review in Booklist 12/00.

It is now two years after One For Sorrow and John the Eunuch, Lord Chamberlain to the Emperor Justinian, is faced with a new and byzantine problem: why are Constantinople's holy stylites bursting into flames as they stand atop their pillars? His investigations are hampered by a pagan philosophy tutor from his youth and a heretical Christian prophet whose ultimatums threaten to topple the Empire.

Then murder strikes close to home and John has only days to find a solution before he, his friends, his Emperor, and the city itself are destroyed. The sumptuous halls of the Great Palace and the riot-torn streets are filled with the same danger and deception. A colorful cast of characters that includes a runaway wife, servants and soldiers, madams and mendicants, a venomous court page and a wealthy landowner or two -- not to mention John's bete noire, the Empress Theodora -- adds texture to this rich, exotic tale of sixth century life and mysterious death.

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #2060763 in Books
  • Published on: 2000-10-10
  • Original language: English
  • Dimensions: .98" h x 5.79" w x 8.81" l, 1.22 pounds
  • Binding: Hardcover
  • 335 pages

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
This sequel to One for Sorrow continues the sixth-century adventures of John the Eunuch in the bustling, intrigue-filled city of Constantinople. The authors successfully create a setting in which Christianity, now the dominant religion under Emperor Justinian, is not only challenged by other beliefs but contested from within by competing factions. John, a former student and slave risen to the lofty but precarious position of Lord Chamberlain, is at storm center. First, Justinian charges him with investigating the fiery deaths of several "stylites"Dholy men who live alone atop pillars. Three of the stylites appear to have burst into consuming flames. John is sent along with his friend, Senator Flavius Aurelius, to meet with Michael, a prophet proclaiming a "quaternity" rather than a trinity of Christian godhood. Michael, who's attracting a growing following, claims to have foretold the stylites' deaths. It's punnish but apt to describe the plot as byzantine. Competition between rival chariot teams threatens to erupt into riots. Michael and his movement could prove a danger to the empire. The whims of Theodora, Justinian's powerful and ruthless wife, threaten more disruptions. The murder of a friend, imprisonment of another and the machinations of Justinian, Theodora and Michael combine to test John's ingenuity and resolve to the utmost. Fascinating historical details help compensate for an overly complex and sprawling story line, but the relative ignorance within the general mystery readership about this historical period could limit sales. (Dec. 7)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Fans of Roman-era mysteries (like Lindsey Davis' extremely popular Marcus Didius Falco series) are in for a real treat. This one, the sequel to One for Sorrow (1999), is set in and around Constantinople, in the Byzantine Empire, during the reign of Emperor Justinian. When three men are burned to death during a rainstorm--talk about your suspicious circumstances--John, the Emperor's Lord Chamberlain, is sent to the Shrine of Saint Michael, where a disturbing group of pilgrims, led by a man who also calls himself Michael, has set up camp. This new-age prophet is predicting that terrible (but unspecified) things will happen if he is not granted an immediate audience with Justinian. Is Michael a crackpot, or does he possess genuine divine powers? Or is he, perhaps, merely a murderer? This is a very intelligent novel; its examination of the nature of belief and faith (and deception) is as insightful and well reasoned as some book-length nonfiction treatments of the same subjects. Add to that a rich and fascinating setting, a solid mystery, and a few surprises, and you have a novel that will capture the interest of anyone who picks it up. If the perfect historical mystery is one that uses the past to let us see the present from a new angle, then this is darned close to being the perfect historical mystery. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

After 1999's highly acclaimed first full length novel, One for Sorrow, the husband and wife team of Mary Reed and Eric Mayer extended the series with Two For Joy, Three For A Letter, Four For A Boy, and Five for Silver. In June 2003 Booklist Magazine named the John the Eunuch novels one of its four Best Little Known Series.


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.