Checkmate

Author(s): Mark Dewar

Location(s): Spain

Genre(s): Thriller, Historical

Era(s): 10th Century

Tenth century Spain.

Cordoba, the capital of Moorish Spain is at the centre of a power struggle in the medieval world.

With its diverse population of Muslims, Christians and Jews, political and religious rivalries are never far from the surface in the city.

After a tense chess match between high ranking officials, one of the players, Aiden – a Christian professor of mathematics at the university – is found murdered.

With the threat of an international war at stake if the crime isn’t solved, the Caliph’s Jewish Vizier, Hasdai ben Shaprut, finds himself in a race against time to catch the killer.

Each of the chess players comes under scrutiny and it isn’t long before another murder is committed.

As the plot thickens will the answer slip through Hasdai’s fingers?

Or will he manage to Checkmate the killer?

‘Checkmate’ is a novel of murder, chess, astronomy and political intrigue set among the palaces and mosques of 10th century Cordoba.

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