An exciting and knowledgeable crime novel about the eccentric Emperor Rudolf II. Christian Stern, the illegitimate son of the Bishop of Regensburg, arrives in Prague in the winter of 1599 to seek his fortune. However, on his very first night, he discovers the body of a girl. Christian becomes an unwilling investigator. Winter 1599: Christian Stern, an ambitious young scholar and alchemist, aims to make a career at the court of the paranoid and unpredictable Habsburg Rudolf II. But on his first night, he finds the body of a young woman, Magdalena, who is only 16 years old, in an alley right next to the castle. Her throat has been cut, she wears a velvet dress and a golden medallion, and she is clearly of noble descent. Christian comes under suspicion - and into the sphere of ruthless courtiers who are trying to gain advantages through dark machinations.