An "amazing"* debut historical novel (*Ariana Franklin, national betselling author of Grave Goods ) Paris, 1686 : When The Bishop of Marseilles discovers that his young cousin Charles du Luc, former soldier and half-fledged Jesuit, has been helping heretics escape the king's dragoons, the bishop sends him far away-to Paris, where Charles is assigned to assist in teaching rhetoric and directing dance at the prestigious college of Louis le Grand. Charles quickly embraces his new life and responsibilities. But on his first day, the school's star dancer disappears from rehearsal, and the next day another student is run down in the street. When the dancer's body is found under the worst possible circumstances, Charles is determined to find the killer in spite of being ordered to leave the investigation. *Starred Review* First-novelist Rock brings firsthand knowledge of dance, choreography, acting, police investigation, and teaching to what is hopefully the beginning of a mystery series set in seventeenth-century Paris and featuring Jesuit teacher Charles du Luc. Perspicaciously sent to the famous Jesuit college of Louis le Grand after aiding a Huguenot friend, Maître du Luc, as rhetoric teacher and stagehand, throws himself into the students’ highly metaphorical dance production of The Labors of Hercules. When Charles chases a missing student off campus and later finds the same boy dead, suspicion falls on him as a newcomer, and finding the actual killer becomes both a personal mission and a source of deadly danger. The strength of this fascinating historical mystery lies in its characters, who are neither wholly holy nor fully evil but are affectionately and colorfully presented for the reader’s consideration. Plenty of derring-do and boyish mischief sprinkled into the plot make this a fun read, and Charles’ thought-provoking struggles as he questions his vocation lend added depth. A fine counterpart to S. J. Parris’ suspenseful historical-mystery novel Heresy (2010), which dramatizes religious strife in an earlier era, and similar in theme to P. D. James’ Death in Holy Orders (2001), Rock’s novel boasts a style all its own and is sure to satisfy those eager for a great new historical mystery. --Jen Baker Judith Rock , a modern dancer and choreographer for many years, founded Body and Soul Dance Company in Berkeley, California, toured extensively as a solo concert dancer, and studied baroque dance. Research for her PhD in art and theology took her to Paris, where she lived at the Jesuit Cultural Center and researched the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century ballets produced at the Paris Jesuit College of Louis le Grand.In a startling leap, Rock then spent several years as a police officer before taking that experience back to the stage as a playwright and actress. She was an auxiliary officer in the NYPD and later a part-time police officer in Minnesota, working midnight shifts.Rock has written on dance, art, and theology for many journals, and has been the artist in residence and taught and lectured at colleges, seminaries, and conferences across the United States and abroad. After years in New York, she and her husband now live in Sarasota, Florida.  The Rhetoric of Death , her first novel, was a 2011 Barry Award nominee.