The Cursed Book

In Košice, the residential city of Upper Hungary, the imperial astrologer Hieronymus Scotta has mysteriously disappeared. Rudolf II has therefore commissioned Stein, Barbarič and Jaroš to travel to this remote region and find not only Scotta, but above all the rare book he was supposed to acquire. Upon arriving in the fortress city, the three investigators discover that the case of the missing stargazer is just one thread in a web of crimes. Moreover, tensions are rising in Košice between the Protestant townsfolk and the Catholic dignitaries who have found refuge here from the Turkish expansion. Violence hangs in the air and there is talk of a major uprising against the monarchy. The tenth book in the series of historical detective stories about Stein and Barbarič brings another case for the popular pair of investigators.