When Professor Shalom Billstein purchased an antique jar at a bazaar in Israel, little did he know that the contents would lead to one of the most brutal serial killings in New York City history. The contents? An undiscovered gospel written by the apostle Thaddeus. What that gospel had to say would cause turmoil in the Catholic Church that had global repercussions. For the Reverend Johnny Ray McDowell and his Harlem Church of the Holy Blood, it represented an opportunity to bilk his naïve congregation out of money in the name of fighting those who would oppose or doubt the word of Holy Scripture. Now in league with the drug king of the city, McDowell agrees to use his church for the manufacturing and distribution of drugs in Harlem—for a handsome fee. Meanwhile, bodies are turning up all over the city and Deputy Chief Inspector of the NYPD’s Homicide Division is tasked with his flying squad of detectives to track down the apparent serial killer. But since there is no way to connect the homicides, he calls upon his friend Professor Bradley Davison of Queens College to help put the pieces together. When Davison finally figures out the reasons behind the killings, the result is a climactic gun battle on the streets of Harlem unlike anything the city has seen since the gang wars of the 1930s. Fanatical Christians, Vatican Cardinals, drug lords, street thugs. All involved in murder or a plot to discredit the Thaddeus Gospel which could upend the very pillars of the Catholic Church.