Eighth Veil, The: A Jerusalem Mystery

By Frederick Ramsay

The Eighth Veil is a mystery set in the year 28 CE in Jerusalem during the feast of Tabernacles. A murdered servant girl is found in the palace of King Herod Antipas. The Prefect, Pontius Pilate is in attendance. The populace is still buzzing over the brutal death of one of their Prophets, John, known familiarly as the Baptizer, and scandal is in the air. Pilate wants no trouble and insists an independent investigation into the murder be made. Antipas will have none of Pilate’s men in the palace and Pilate doesn’t trust Antipas. Gamaliel, the chief rabbi and head of the Sanhedrin is coerced by Pilate to do the detective work. Gamaliel is a Talmudic scholar, not a sleuth, and at first struggles. But as he learns more of the dead girl’s background and that of the other major players in the drama, particularly Menahem, Antipas’ foster brother, he soon becomes eon over to the process and, Sherlockian-like, begins to fit the pieces together. Or, as his “Watson” Loukas says, strips the veils from his personal Salome. The girl turns out not to be the mere servant everyone assumed, in spite of his impatience with the pace and direction of the investigation Pilate is rewarded and the fascinating, little told but critically entwined, histories of Julius Caesar, Cleopatra, Herod the Great, Anthony and Augustus Caesar, and the Battle of Actium suddenly seems more relevant to the Gospel narratives than anyone might have previously imagined. Meanwhile, the figure of Jesus, the rabbi from Nazareth, with his ragged band of enthusiasts and his habit of annoying Caiaphas, the High Priest, moves enigmatically in the background.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
• Release date: Feb 7, 2012
• ISBN: 9781615953356

Frederick Ramsay

Frederick Ramsay was raised on the east coast and attended graduate school in Chicago. He was a writer of mysteries set in Virginia, (the Ike Schwartz Mysteries) Botswana Mystery series, Jerusalem Mystery series and stand-alones (Impulse, Judas: The Gospel of Betrayal). He was a retired Episcopal Priest, Academic, and author.

Reviews for Eighth Veil, The

[maggie.anton · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

One of the perks of membership in the Historical Novel Society is their magazine that consists mainly of book reviews arranged by century. There’s usually not much for Late Antiquity [1st-5th century], but I eagerly check anyway. Imagine my astonishment when I saw the review of “Holy Smoke” by Frederick Ramsay, the second of his “Jerusalem Mysteries,” which takes place in 1st century Roman Palestina and stars as master detective – Rabban Gamliel, head of the Sanhedrin.

Ancient Talmudic scholar solves murder mysteries! How could I pass up such a hero, especially when the novel was well reviewed and available in my local library? Since this was Book II, I checked out Book I, “The Eighth Veil." I admit to some trepidation after reading Ramsay’s author bio and learning that he is a retired Episcopal priest. But I figured that if this were a thinly disguised effort to promote Christianity, I would immediately stop reading and post a scathing review online.

But to my surprise, Jesus, while mentioned in passing as an itinerant rabbi in the North, is neither a character nor an important figure. Ramsay paints a fairly accurate picture of 1st century Judaism and the difficulties Jerusalem Jews faced living under King Herod and Pontius Pilate. Gamliel is the voice of Rabbinic Judaism, which puts him in some conflict with the High Priest, but all this is in the background of the murder mystery that first and foremost shows how Gamliel, in classic reluctant detective mode, goes about discovering the truth so he can get back to his studies.

I’ve been a murder mystery fan for as long as I can remember, devouring Agatha Christie, PD James, Ellis Peters, Dorothy Sayers, Arthur Conan Doyle, etc. After reading both of Ramsay’s “Jerusalem Mysteries,” I’m pleased to discover a novelist who does a pretty good job of combining this genre with my current passion, history of rabbis in Late Antiquity. Who knew?