Dimensions
130 x 198 x 19mm
"Titus Helvius Priscus gives greetings to his stepson Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus. Volumnia will have mentioned the Baker statue to you, Marcus. Tremendously exciting and certainly, assuming it's genuine, the antiquarian find of the century. If I can acquire it I shall die a happy man."
I sighed. "Perilla, it's dinner time, I'm hungry, and frankly I couldn't care less if Priscus's hunk of marble turns out to have the nosy old globetrotting bugger's name carved across its backside in cuneiform. Now shut up and let's eat."
"Very well." Perilla nibbled a canape. "I thought you'd be interested though. The Baker wasn't marble. Nor was it bronze. It was solid gold." I choked on my olive. "You are interested, then?" she said.
What starts out as a simple act of brokering for his stepfather lands Marcus in customary hot water. For the legendary Baker statue, gifted to the Delphic oracle by Croesus of Lydia in the sixth century BC, is a treasure many would kill to possess - and is reputed to bring agonising death to those who touch it . . .
