The Antiquities Dealer

By Ed Protzel

When Miriam Solomon, the love of David Greenberg’s life, phones him at his antiquities gallery in St. Louis, the black hole at the center of his heart shudders. Twenty years earlier, Miriam had inexplicably run off to Israel with his best friend, Solly, a brilliant but nerdy young scientist. Now she tells David that Solly has committed suicide and she needs his aid on a secret research project Solly left unfinished: to acquire the one remaining nail from the crucifixion of Jesus. Is she telling the truth? And why does that nail have such significance?

• Language: English
• Publisher: TouchPoint Press
• Release date: Nov 5, 2018
• ISBN: 9781946920508

Ed Protzel

Ed Protzel grew up in St. Louis, the son of a Jewish father and a part-Cherokee mother. For a time he lived in an orphanage when his parents divorced, and left home after high school to live in St. Louis’s bohemian Gaslight Square entertainment district. These experiences gave Protzel a unique perspective, which is reflected in the traits of many of his fictional characters: outsiders and gamesters—male or female—on lonely quests, seeking justice, love, and fulfillment against society’s blindness. ​Protzel began writing both novels and screenplays while in college, working on them in his spare time while employed in securities management. He kept writing as he moved around the United States. He did some freelance work for 20th Century Studios and completed several original screenplays, one of which was optioned by a producer. But Protzel couldn’t abide what he calls Hollywood’s “hyper-Darwinism,” so he enrolled in grad school at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, where he earned his master’s in English and creative writing.