HOW LONG CAN YOU EXPECT TO LIVE?

Depends. If you live past ten years old, you could expect to live to about 47. Still, some in the upper classes lived past 70 years of age. Readers of the Miriam bat Isaac mystery series meet Amram, Miriam’s father’s business partner in THE DEADLIEST LIE when Amram is about 47. Irrespective of his wealth, having experienced tragedy after tragedy, he is already quite old. By the time he appears in THE DEADLIEST SPORT, ten years later, Amram has significant health issues. Miriam describes him to us:

His skin has withered like old parchment, and his once lacy Hebraic beard has dwindled to a tangle of errant whiskers spiraling out of a receding chin. A knee-length, rumpled linen tunic (not quite clean) engulfs his spindly frame, a heavy leather belt cinches the bulk around his skeletal waist, and tonight, his fleshless arms and legs poke out of the ripples of fabric, their joints swollen into nasty red knobs and their skin blotched with eggplant bruises. But most disturbing of all, his filmy gray eyes gaze out from deepening, mauve-ringed hollows.

Miriam, as an alchemist, has been experimenting with a moonwort known as “the white herb of the mountain,” an extremely rare succulent fern (see my blog of May 6, 2015). She may have in fact synthesized the famed elixir to rejuvenate, perfect, and extend human life. Be sure to read THE DEADLIEST SPORT for easy instructions on isolating its active ingredient. Black Opal Books will be releasing the book this year. To read the preview, go to the THE DEADLIEST SPORT page on this website.