Only one man can save the democracy at Athens. Nicolaos, the unknown and insignificant son of a minor sculptor, must solve the murder of the leading politician Ephialtes, shot through the heart by an arrow, before his death tears apart the city in civil war. Of course, it would be easier if Pericles wasn't looking over his shoulder, critiquing his every move. And it would be nice if the clever and beautiful Diotima wasn't a virgin priestess, and a dab hand with a bow and arrow. He really wishes her mother wasn't a seductive courtesan, and the mistress of Ephialtes. He'd prefer not to go near Pythax, the brutally tough chief of the city guard. And if only his twelve year old brother Socrates would stop offering helpful suggestions. It would definitely help if the main suspect weren't Xanthippus, a leading conservative and, worst of all, Pericles' father. Meanwhile the witnesses to the plot are being killed one by one.
Can Nicolaos follow the trail to whoever is behind it all before the evidence is wiped out?
