Cirrus@Austlit

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 real historical events during the early years of the Christian church in the 1st century AD. (Notes on the historical background can be found under 'From Mystery to History' at the back of this book.)

For old friends who have read Ben Bartholomew's previously published adventures, the events of this story occur shortly after The Case of the Vanishing Corpse and more than twenty years before The Case of the Secret Assassin.