DEATH IN BYZANTIUM. It is five hundred years since the death of Christ. Rome has fallen, but in the East her empire survives. Future generations will know this enduring relic as Byzantium, its very name a byword for guile and deviousness. At the heart of Byzantium lies Constantinople, a city forever simmering on the edge of chaos, a volatile stew of creeds, cults and cultures. Presiding over it all is the Great Palace, home to the imperial court, a cauldron of ambition, competition, intrigue and treachery. At the centre of this maelstrom stands John. Born in AD 495, John attended Plato's Academy outside Athens as a young man, but grew restless and left to become a mercenary. He honed his skills fighting in Britain and Egypt before he was captured on the Persian borders of the Empire, emasculated and sold into slavery. Purchased to serve at the Great Palace in Constantinople, John's unusual talents were spotted by Justinian, the man destined to become Byzantium's greatest emperor. John's skills won him his freedom and he eventually rose to become Justinian's Lord Chamberlain – the emperor's right hand. In a city where violence and murder are commonplace, it is John's skills as an investigator that Justinian prizes the most. But the emperor is not a sentimental man. Nor is he a patient one. John knows his position is precarious. One misstep and his enemies may have him. And if they don't, the emperor himself almost certainly will.