This is one of my favorite "histmyst" series for its wonderful delineation of Byzantium during its golden age, its likeable protagonist and tortuous plots. We've all wondered who the mysterious Zoe could have been, and in this book we finally get the chance to find out. You will need to be more on your toes than I was to discover the murderer, and what it is all about in a story with as many twists and turns as the mean streets of Byzantium. This time John and Anatolius do most of their detecting amid the seedy Copper Market, where exiled courtiers eke out a living and dream of better times alongside some colorful actresses, beggars, a stylite and various trades people. I don't know enough about the period to be able to say whether a real Lord Chamberlain could have done this sort of work himself; it seems rather unlikely but while I read it I was so intent on the story I suspended my belief and just enjoyed it.