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Learn moreRome, 56 BC. The great general Pompey has conquered the East; Julius Caesar is defeating the Gauls; only Egypt, with its strategic granaries and vast treasuries of gold, still eludes the grasp of Rome. The city itself is becoming ever more corrupt, as the last generation of the Roman Republic indulges in political backstabbing, endless lawsuits, scandalous love affairs, and the occasional murder.
In recent days several Egyptian envoys have been viciously assassinated. Fearing that he will be next, the Egyptian ambassador Dio calls on his old friend Gordianus the Finder and all of his special skills for help—but before the night is out, Dio is murdered.
Now Gordianus begins his most dangerous case.Hired to investigate Dio's death by a beautiful woman with a scandalous reputation, he will follow a trail of political intrigue into the highest circles of power and the city's most hidden arenas of debauchery.There Gordianus will learn that nothing is as it seems—not the damning evidence he uncovers, not the suspect he sends to trial, not even the real truth behind Dio's death.
Poison, betrayals, and long-buried secrets confront Gordianus as one of history's most famous trials races to a close. But even after the verdict is delivered, there are secrets still to be uncovered.
Steven Saylor is a freelance writer, editor, and the author of novels set in ancient Rome. He studied history at the University of Texas at Austin. Saylor’s writing has appeared in the Threepenny Review, San Francisco Bay Guardian, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, and the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. He lives in Berkeley, California, and Austin, Texas.
Scott Harrison is a graduate of the American Repertory Theater Institute in Massachusetts and founder of Ironweed Productions, a theater company in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Reviews
“Steven Saylor transports you to ancient Rome with spellbinding effectiveness.”
“Imaginative…Saylor’s style is smooth…An absorbing look at a time when men tried to rule themselves wisely and failed.”
“Engrossing…Intensely dramatic…Erotic, funny, compelling…A bona fide page-turner.”
“Simmering with eroticism, adding engrossing historical filler about Roman law, politics and goddess cult…[an] absorbing brew of Rome's decay.
“The remarkably vivid and finely etched historical background at once roots the characters firmly in their time and brings them alive for our own—in this finest flower yet of Saylor’s admirable Roma sub Rosa series.”
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