Did He Kill Her?

Carthage and Alexandria were magnificent cities, rivals in the Mediterranean World for second place only to Rome. And so, it’s not surprising that in The Deadliest Thief, Nathaniel ben Ruben wanted Fabia to go with him to Carthage, on the coast of modern Tunisia. Let him explain to you why:

I fell in love with her, you know. Right in the Flamingo’s Tongue. Maybe it was the plump couches or my realizing how lonely I’d been, too fearful for companionship ever since everyone believed I’d killed that jackal-faced slave. I offered to take her away from that slimy box, The Pegasus, to spend our lives together in Carthage—I know the city well—if she’d share her stake of the jewel heist with me. When Fabia and I left the restaurant, we had an understanding. At least I thought so. Then, hardly a day later, she told me she’d made up her mind to surrender the jewels. When I tried to talk her out of it, she only laughed at me.

That’s when I felt a streak of white heat spark through my body. All I wanted was to pummel that face until I saw blood on her teeth. Instead, I bit my lip and pretended to understand.

No wonder ben Ruben was simmering with fury. The question is only whether he killed her. And, fortunately, you don’t have to surrender your own jewels to find out. All you have to do is read The Deadliest Thief, finalist for the Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award in the category of best mystery of 2019. Just click here.