The Rhetoric of Death

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.


About the Author
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.