What do you know about the real history of this time in Judea? In The Eighth Veil (Poisoned Pen $14.95), read about Herod, Pilate, the chief rabbis, the murder victim, and a number of annoying rabbis preaching hither and yon in the Roman province…. This marvelous start to a trilogy is our February History/Mystery Paperback Pick.
Dr. Frederick Ramsay was born in Baltimore, the son of a respected teacher researcher and scientist. He graduated from Washington and Lee University in Virginia and received his doctorate from the University of Illinois. After a stint in the Army, he joined the faculty of the University of Maryland, School of Medicine, where he taught Anatomy, Embryology and Histology; engaged in research and served as an Associate Dean. During this time he also pursued studies in theology and in 1971 was ordained an Episcopal priest.
Leaving academia, he tried his hand at a variety of vocations. At one time or another, he served as a Vice President for Public Affairs, worked as an insurance salesman, a tow man and line supervisor at Baltimore’s BWI airport, a community college instructor, and substitute. Finally, he accepted a full time position as a clergyman.
He is now retired from full-time ministry and writes fiction.
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A murdered servant girl is found in the palace of King Herod Antipas. The prefect, Pontius Pilate, is in attendance. The populace has already been buzzing over the brutal death of one of their prophets, John, known familiarly as the Baptizer, and scandal is in the air.
Pilate wants no trouble and insists that there be an independent investigation into the murder. But Antipas will have none of Pilate’s men in the palace, and Pilate doesn’t trust Antipas. So Pilate turns to Gamaliel, the chief rabbi and head of the Sanhedrin, and coerces him to do the detective work. Gamaliel is a Talmudic scholar, not a sleuth, and he at first struggles; however, he is soon won over to the assignment as he learns more of the dead girl’s background and that of the other major players in the drama, particularly Antipas’ foster brother, Menahem. Soon, Gamaliel, in Sherlockian fashion, begins to fit the pieces together, or, as his ”Watson” Loukas says, ”strips the veils from his personal Salome.” Pilate, in spite of his impatience with the pace and direction of the investigation, is rewarded when it turns out that the girl is not the mere servant that everyone had assumed.
Meanwhile, the Battle of Actium and the fascinating histories of Julius Caesar, Cleopatra, Herod the Great, Mark Antony, and Augustus Caesar become critically entwined with the investigation. And the figure of Jesus, the rabbi from Nazareth, with his ragged band of enthusiasts and his habit of annoying Caiaphas, the High Priest, moves enigmatically in the background.
