Scarlet on Purple Velvet A Byzantine Thriller Noir Novel

About the book

About Scarlet on Purple Velvet A Byzantine Thriller Noir Novel

Constantinople, January 532 A.D, a few years after Justinian I and Theodora became emperors together and were dressed in purple. The Nika riots emerged to ruin them, ended in a tragedy.A young, bored, rich and highly educated "playboy" is offered a "job" to find a missing girl. A new-born hard-boiled private investigator wannabe, pairing up with acolyte terrible Turk Ahmed, two orphan men who had grown up together in their first case. A Historical fiction thriller in Noir style. A twisting plot with an unpredictable peak and a horrible aftermath. The real historical events are quite overwhelming and hold a large space of the book and less to the suspense. Long narratives and descriptions absent, dialogs are lively and up-tempo, the final revelation is a "blasphemy". But.... It's a fiction thriller intending to be educative and provocative for the curious and demanding reader.Theophilus Vardas(Theo) and the Turk came here to stay, though. The Vardas adventure # 2 is already in draft. I am not a writer. I am a cooking chef. An educated cooking chef though. I've done my studies, got a University degree but instead of entering into the "system" I've chosen to do what pleases me and not join the sheep flock searching for a shepherd.As a movie-music-literature lover I have a sweet spot for Jazz and the so-called Noir, films and books, not only the top class rated but also the B-movies and the pulp-fiction best sellers. Now, there are some great authors in that category like Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Jim Thompson (the greatest), just to name a few from the past and some excellent new ones like Philip Kerr, Jo Nesbo, Michael Dibdin , again just to name a few. "writers" who at the age of 50 have already produced 50 novels and are still writing a book once or twice a year aiming to sell books, commercialize the product, make money. They are largely different to those great ones that are/were AUTHORS, producing literature. I don't care entering into either category.World History has been my secondary passion. I believe we will never learn everything about our past and definitely never the truth. This "truth" has been suffering through centuries, it is not a modern invention. The fast-growing technology has created the terms "fake news" or "alternative truth" as if the truth is and always will be one and only. "the truth is rarely pure and never simple" said the great Oscar -don't ask Oscar who? There was only one.History and crime, two things that go together like Siamese twins. Let it be then. And a hard-boiled sleuth, not much different that the old -and new- famous ones.The East Roman-Byzantine empire has a history of 1000 years, drowned in blood, intrigue, debauchery, violence and misery that led to its destruction, better known as Dark ages. Not at all a dull place for a sleuth!!

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