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The Alchemist's Code
When the daughter of a senior Venetian nobleman disappears, his wife drags him off to consult the celebrated clairvoyant, Filippo Nostradamus. The Maestro guesses right away that the problem is an elopement, not an abduction, but he agrees to use his clairvoyance to find the missing girl. Too old and infirm to go adventuring himself, he sends his gallant apprentice, Alfeo Zeno, to intercept the lovers--and Alfeo promptly finds himself in the middle of an unwanted sword fight. Alfeo prevails, though, and all seems headed for a happy ending. Not so, for politics intervenes. The ruling Council of Ten decides that if the Maestro can find a missing girl, he ought to be able to identify a dangerous foreign spy, known only--and ominously--as Algol, the Ghoul. Soon Alfeo and Nostradamus find themselves up against black magic; Alfeo becomes prime suspect in a murder case, and then both of them are arrested on a charge of witchcraft...
Published March, 2008.
