From the Eternal City of Rome to the remote outpost of Roman-occupied Judea comes a fresh new mystery series by J. Brooks Van Dyke which evokes the feel of the ancient world in the final days of Christ s life. Like his other mysteries, Van Dyke s Empire of Secrets evolves into a hotbed of intrigue, espionage, romance and bitter betrayals as he transports his readers to the political upheavals in Judea in 33 A.D. Caught up in the same conflict, Gaius Secundus, a recent graduate of Rome s military academy, has been dispatched to Judea to find his older brother s assassin. In his desperate search for truth, Gaius uncovers a deadly plot that rocks the ancient world, throwing the young Roman warrior into turmoil and a spiritual warfare of his own. What web turned his brother against family honor? What great deception touched the lives of two very different women? What evil scheme threatened the Peace of Rome? The call to redemption stirs him even more: Was Jesus the Nazarene merely another zealot? Or was Jesus the real Messiah, the long- awaited Deliverer, to whom the Law and Prophets pointed? Well researched, Empire of Secrets sweeps us into the past, over the Judean hillsides marred with political intrigue and spiritual upheaval. Today's themes are there as well: vivid characters caught up in betrayal, romance, secrets, and spiritual redemption."