Author's note: Just as Shakespeare performed in modern dress is still Shakespeare, so history in modern dress is still history. Despite the pizzas, guns, cars and telephones this fictional detective story is based on a solid, historical reality of the first century AD - namely, the early years of the Christian church.
For old friends who have read Ben Bartholomew's previously published adventures a word of explanation: the events of this story fall in between The Case of the Damascus Dagger and The Case of the Secret Assassin, occurring shortly after the former and more than twenty years before the latter.