Rome, September, 1978: Pope John Paul I is found dead in his bedroom. No autopsy is performed. The body of a young nun is discovered near the Vatican. The verdict, death by poisoning.
Present Day: Dominic Quinn returns to Ireland to attend his father's funeral. His sole inheritance, a mystery dating back two thousand years. His only clues, a few enigmatic words that others would prefer to stay buried - at any cost. Surrounded by lethal enemies, Dominic is drawn into the shadowy world of Vatican covert operations. He travels to Rome to unravel the secrets of a first-century manuscript, reputedly written by the Virgin Mary. What he finds will challenge everything he thought he knew about his past, the origins of Christianity, and the nature of the universe itself.
And, beneath the Vatican, in an unexcavated region of the necropolis where the tomb of the Virgin Mary is rumored to reside, the evil that pursues him will clash head on with the divine.
Stephen Marley, a member of International Thriller Writers, is a British author and video game designer. He has had eight novels and a number of short stories published, including a revised edition of "Mary Messiah." His third novel, "Mortal Mask," was acclaimed a 'masterpiece' in the Clute/Grant The Encyclopedia of Fantasy.