We have mentioned the book before to say it was coming. I guess we should mention it again now that The Inquisitor’s Key by New York Times bestselling author Jefferson Bass is out simultaneously as an audio book as well as hardcover, enlarged type Kindle and Nook. Here is the publisher’s description:
Miranda Lovelady, Dr. Bill Brockton’s protégé, is spending the summer helping excavate a newly discovered chamber beneath the spectacular Palace of the Popes in Avignon, France. There she discovers a stone chest inscribed with a stunning claim: Inside lie the bones of none other than Jesus of Nazareth.
Faced with a case of unimaginable proportions, Miranda summons Brockton for help proving or refuting the claim. Both scientists are skeptical – after all, fake relics abounded during the Middle Ages – but evidence for authenticity looks strong initially, and soon grows stronger.
Brockton and Miranda link the bones to the haunting image on the Shroud of Turin, revered by millions as the burial cloth of Christ, and then a laboratory test finds the bones to be 2,000 years old. The finding triggers a deadly tug-of-war between the anthropologists, the Vatican, and a deadly zealot who hopes to use the bones to bring about the Second Coming – and trigger the end of time.
Set against an international landscape and weaving a rich tapestry of religion, history, art, and science, The Inquisitor’s Key takes Jefferson Bass’ work to an exciting new level of suspense.
I walk the dog a lot and so I’ll listen to it when I’m doing that.
There is a podcast interview with the authors available for free download or listen at http://www.frankmurphy.com; Scroll down to the heading “Cruci fiction”. The interview is about 30 minutes long. I myself am about halfway through the book. I’ve read all of the previous
Jefferson-Bass novels-This latest book is a bit of a departure from the typical
JB adventure. More pages to go, but suffice to say that I’m already
disappointed at the casual dismissal of the image properties of the Shroud & the
belief that Emily Craig’s “copy” pretty much explains how it was done.
Surprised? Not really. De Wesselow’s book, now this one; are we due for
a(nother) cloning Jesus from the Shroud book next?