Is Pytheus the deadliest thief?

In Miriam’s time, the first century CE, Tarsus was one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world, dating back to the Neolithic Period. And, like any great port, it had a mixed population of pirates, seafarers, and roughnecks. One of them was Pytheus, who participated in the jewel heist in Ephesus. We meet him in THE DEADLIEST THIEF where his own wife describes him:

Pytheus was by nature suspicious and secretive, and all he ever dreamed of was having easy money. Instead his life consisted of one failed scheme after another and then running from the consequences. Sometimes he’d come home with unexplained cash, but that only honed his greed and fueled even more bitterness for the possessions others had acquired.

From a comment, a fleeting reflection in a shop window, and the words of a dying man, Miriam infers that Pytheus is “a big brute with tiny deep-set, obsidian eyes, a small head with a sloping forehead, and a massive upper body. And, judging by his accent, he was a Cilician from Tarsus.” Now she just has to find him.

But Pytheus is fixed on killing Miriam. Could he have also poisoned the captain of the ship that brought him to Alexandria? Could he be the savage threatening to butcher Miriam’s best friend? Is he the bully stalking Miriam’s erstwhile assistant? And is he the deadliest thief?

Kirkus Reviews praises THE DEADLIEST THIEF for its “vibrant imagery and an entertaining plot ending with a most unexpected twist.” Click here to watch the book trailer.