Unholy Sepulcher
(2014)(The fourth book in the Getorius and Arcadia Mystery series)
A novel by Albert Noyer
A body found in Jerusalem's Holy Sepulcher leads to a sex-cult and Arcadia's abduction: a Bedouin warlord will sell her to the highest bidder.
Travelling to the Holy Land, Surgeon Getorius Asterius and Arcadia stop at Cyprus. A street play turns bawdy at the antics of Aphrodisia, an actress-prostitute. Moshe ben Asher, aged leader of Hebrew refugees, asks for help in escaping on their galley. At sea, Aphrodisia curses crewmen who brought her aboard; she disappears at Ascalon. Abd al-Shira becomes the couple's guide. At Jerusalem's Holy Sepulcher, Deacon Delphinus, nephew of Bishop Juvenal, is infatuated with Arcadia. He has a K branded on an earlobe, as did galley-master Saturnilos. Inside Christ's tomb chamber, the body of a man is discovered lying on the burial slab, also branded with a K. Delphinus admits he knows him, and later lures Arcadia to a secret Karpocratian sect that holds material things in common, including wives and purchased Bedouin girls. Repelled, she demands to return, but the cult-master fears she will reveal their location. Drugged, Arcadia is abducted to the desert fort of warlord Amir al-Shams, who supplies the cult girls. Apelles, his boozy Greek engineer, admits that Arcadia will be sold to a foreign king, yet refuses to help her escape. Getorius's and al-Shira's search for her leads to the cult den, where Saturnilos is found dead of scorpion stings.
A climax involves Arcadia's rescue, the fate of Shams and Aphrodisia, and Juvenal's tale of slave brothers he ransomed: Kerinthos succeeded as a merchant; al-Shams became a warlord. When the couple is offered imperial funds to travel in Egypt and verify the Coptic Church's account of the Holy Family's flight from Herod, Getorius balks. Will Arcadia persuade him to go?
Genre: Historical
Travelling to the Holy Land, Surgeon Getorius Asterius and Arcadia stop at Cyprus. A street play turns bawdy at the antics of Aphrodisia, an actress-prostitute. Moshe ben Asher, aged leader of Hebrew refugees, asks for help in escaping on their galley. At sea, Aphrodisia curses crewmen who brought her aboard; she disappears at Ascalon. Abd al-Shira becomes the couple's guide. At Jerusalem's Holy Sepulcher, Deacon Delphinus, nephew of Bishop Juvenal, is infatuated with Arcadia. He has a K branded on an earlobe, as did galley-master Saturnilos. Inside Christ's tomb chamber, the body of a man is discovered lying on the burial slab, also branded with a K. Delphinus admits he knows him, and later lures Arcadia to a secret Karpocratian sect that holds material things in common, including wives and purchased Bedouin girls. Repelled, she demands to return, but the cult-master fears she will reveal their location. Drugged, Arcadia is abducted to the desert fort of warlord Amir al-Shams, who supplies the cult girls. Apelles, his boozy Greek engineer, admits that Arcadia will be sold to a foreign king, yet refuses to help her escape. Getorius's and al-Shira's search for her leads to the cult den, where Saturnilos is found dead of scorpion stings.
A climax involves Arcadia's rescue, the fate of Shams and Aphrodisia, and Juvenal's tale of slave brothers he ransomed: Kerinthos succeeded as a merchant; al-Shams became a warlord. When the couple is offered imperial funds to travel in Egypt and verify the Coptic Church's account of the Holy Family's flight from Herod, Getorius balks. Will Arcadia persuade him to go?
Genre: Historical
Visitors also looked at these books
Used availability for Albert Noyer's Unholy Sepulcher