

These rules are drawn from the depths of her vaults of experience in the publishing industry over many (cough, many) years. Eventually, Nicolaos must solve a murder, but this is more spy thriller than whodunit.Ĭorby’s trademark blend of humor, fascinating historical detail, and accessible presentation of the politics of the time has never been better. Janet Reid, New York literary agent and Query Shark queen shares many invaluable Rules for Writers on her professional blog. Later, pirates almost scuttle the journey to Egypt, and Nicolaos nearly loses his client to a master Spartan assassin. Pericles shares his suspicions with Nicolaos that Herodotus may be a spy in the employ The rebels’ leader, Inaros, who claims to be descended from the last pharaoh, has asked for a “man of cunning and resource” to help take the city of Memphis, the last stronghold controlled by the enemy. Ostensibly, Nicolaos will serve as a bodyguard, but his real mission is to aid Egyptians rebelling against Persian rule. Early in Corby’s exceptional sixth novel set in ancient Greece (after 2015’s Deus Ex Machina ), Pericles, the most powerful man in Athens, asks Nicolaos, “the only private agent” in the city-state, to accompany the historian Herodotus on a trip to Egypt.
