The Brazen Altar — S.E. Thomas

A four-year-old boy disappears when bandits attack a family traveling from Samaria to Jerusalem. Magistrate Quintus Arrius enlists a clever but unlikely helper: a Jewish merchant boy named Darash. When Darash learns of a revival of the ancient cult of Molech, he fears the worst. This notorious cult frequently demands the lives of children as human sacrifices. As sole supporter of his family, Darash has troubles of his own -- a demanding mother, a younger sister, and a new servant girl with a past as painful as her midnight cries. Still, the youth finds himself drawn into a race to find the missing child, terrified of what he might discover.