Artscroll: Scandal in Amsterdam by Avner Gold

Betrayed and imprisoned in Vienna. Sebastian Dominguez finally gains his release, only to discover that his mother has been accused of witchcraft in France and is in danger of being burned at the stake. Sebastian rides like the wind to come to her assistance, but on a lonely stretch of road in the Black Forest in southeastern Germany, he is attacked from ambush.

Who is behind this attack, and what is the motive? Who betrayed him in Vienna? Who is working behind the scenes to ensure that his mother is tried, convicted and executed? The mystery deepens as more attacks, incidents and betrayals reveal that a malign enemy is stalking the Dominguez family and that he will not be satisfied until he destroys them.

In Scandal in Amsterdam, the sequel to The Long Road to Freedom, Avner Gold transports us to the glittering Dutch capital at the height of its glory, when the Dutch Republic dominated the economy of the world, in large part because of its flourishing community of wealthy ex-Marranos.

Great rabbis stand at the head of this dynamic community, but its day-to-day affairs are controlled by the Maamad, a council of laymen who rule with an iron hand and punish violators by putting them into cherem. As the story unfolds, the Dominguez family find themselves trapped between the enemy stalking them and the Maamad that is scrutinizing their every move.