Steven Saylor's "Novels of Ancient Rome" (Gordianus the Finder)

1. Roman Blood : A Novel of Ancient Rome (1991)

"Elena asks that you come to the House of Swans at once..." Compelled by this message, the wealthy, sybaritic Sextus Roscius goes not to his harlot, but to his doom--savagely murdered by unknown assassins. In the unseasonable heat of a spring morning in 80 B.C., Gordianus the Finder is summoned to the house of Cicero, a young advocate staking his reputation on this case. The charge is patricide; the motive, a son's greed. The punishment, rooted deep in Roman tradition, is horrific beyond imagining. Gordianus's investigation takes him through the city's raucous, pungent streets and deep into urban Umbria, unraveling layers of deceit, twisted passions, and murderous desperation. From pompous, rouged nobles to wily slaves to citizens of seemingly simple virtue, the case becomes a political nightmare. As the defense proceeds toward a devastating confrontation in the Forum, one man's fate may be threaten the very leaders of Rome itself.

2. Arms of Nemesis : A Novel of Ancient Rome (1992)

It is 72 B.C. and the Spartacus Slave Revolt is raging through the countryside of southern Italy, terrorizing the citizens of Rome, when Gordianus the Finder receives an urgent summons from a mysterious client, calling him to the luxury resort of Baiae on the Bay of Naples. The overseer of a great villa has been killed and all the evidence seems to point to two slaves believed to have since run off to join Spartacus. The master of the house is Marcus Crassus, the richest man in Rome, and he has invoked an ancient Roman law: When slave kills master, justice demands the death of every slave in the household. So in three days, as a part of the funeral games, ninety-nine slaves will be slaughtered in the arena. Crassus has been asking the Senate to grant him a special military command against Spartacus; by decreeing the harshest possible punishment against the remaining slaves, he has turned a potential political embarrassment into a political coup. The truth of the murder is more complicated than it appears; its twisted path leads Gordianus on an extraordinary journey, from a hellish descent into the hold of a Roman slave galley, to an eerie visit to the Cumaen Sibyl, ending at a harrowing gladitorial match. As the hour of the slaughter nears, Gordianus finds himself caught in a web of tantalizing but elusive evidence. But as he begins to discern the solution, he realizes the truth may lead to his own destruction.

3. Catilina's Riddle : A Novel of Ancient Rome (1993)

Rome, 63 B.C.: With the consular election drawing near, Rome is fiercely divided between the conservative Cicero and the tempestuous Catilina, whose followers are rumored to be plotting a bloodthirsty siege for power if their leader fails to win office... Gordianus the Finder, retired to his Etruscan farm, is happy to be free of the intrigue and danger of the capital. But when his old friend Cicero enlists the Finder in an elaborate plot to control Catilina, Gordianus is drawn back into a familiar world. Now caught in a cloak-and-dagger political struggle for the fate of the Republic, Gordianus finds himself strangely drawn to the controversial candidate. Is Catilina really a subversive renegade, or are Cicero's suspicions part of an even greater conspiracy? When a headless corpse ominously appears on his farm, Gordianus knows he must unlock the secret of Catilina's Riddle before Rome tears herself apart.

4. The Venus Throw : A Novel of Ancient Rome (1995)

Rome, 56 B.C.: 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. 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. Thinking that he is investigating a straightforward political crime, Gordianus is instead plunged into the decadent milieu of Rome, where nothing is quite what it seems. The notorious beauty Clodia, the arrogant advocate Marcus Caelius, the lovesick poet Catullus, the eunuch priest Trygonian, the master politician Cicero - all are players in a deadly, seductive game of lust and murder. Poison, betrayals, and long-buried secrets confront Gordianus as events rush to their resolution in one of history's most famous trials. But even after the verdict is delivered, there are still secrets to be uncovered....

5. A Murder On The Appian Way : A Mystery Of Ancient Rome (1996)

Rome is in a state of turmoil as the rival gangs of Publius Clodius, a high-born, populist politician, and his archenemy Titus Milo fight to control the consular elections. When Clodius is murdered on the famed Appian Way and Milo is accused of the crime, the city explodes with riots and arson. Even the sacrosanct Senate House is burned to the ground. As accusations and rumors fly, Gordianus the Finder - whose famed investigative skills and integrity have made him much sought after by all sides in the escalating conflict - is charged by Pompey the Great with discovering what really happened on the Appian Way on 18 January 52 B.C. What were the circumstances of Clodius's death? Who is responsible? And should his murderer be despised as a villain or hailed as a savior of the Republic? As Cicero fights to save Milo, and the Clodians to destroy him, the answers become ever more vital and ever more obscured. While the city descends into chaos, Pompey and his rival Julius Caesar watch from a distance, and plot their own ambitions.

6. The House of the Vestals : The Investigations of Gordianus the Finder (A Novel of Ancient Rome) (1997)

These tales tell the story of Gordianus's adopted son Eco's childhood, Gordianus's relationship with Bethesda (first his slave and now his wife), Bethesda's own background, and, perhaps most important, the history of Rome from the end of Sulla's dictatorship up until the time of the Spartacan slave revolt. Publisher's Weekly writes: "After five novels in the Roma Sub Rosa series (A Murder on the Appian Way, 1996), Saylor fills the time frame between the first two books-80 to 72 B.C.- with this first collection of short stories featuring series sleuth Gordianus the Finder. In the crowded streets of late-Republic Rome, the rich and the poor, the living and the dead occupy close quarters. In 'The Lemures,' a wealthy couple's home, previously owned by an executed political enemy, is haunted by the dead man's ghost. When the new owner dies unexpectedly, his widow is sure that the ghost will kill her next. Gordianus mines his knowledge of botany, history and human psyches to ferret out the solution. The nobleman Lucius Claudius, summoned into the house of dying young man to witness his signing of his will, days later sees the young man out walking. He asks the Finder to investigate and, as Gordianus follows the trial of deceit in "A Will Is a Way," the two men embark upon a lasting friendship. Gordianus adopts a young mute boy, Eco; and his sultry Egyptian servant, Bethesda, gradually evolves from slave to friend to lover, and finally, wife. Her Egyptian-Jewish origins permit the author to incorporate sections of biblical lore in his stories. Saylor's fluid prose and probing characterization work as effectively in the short story as they have in his admirable Gordianus novels."

7. Rubicon : A Novel of Ancient Rome (1999)

Caesar and his troops have crossed the Rubicon and are marching on Rome. Pompey, his rival, is preparing to flee south with the Senate and his loyal troops, leaving the city unguarded, ungoverned, and on the verge of chaos. In the midst of the mounting panic, Pompey's cousin and protege, Numerius, is found murdered, garroted in the garden of Gordianus the Finder. Enraged, Pompey demands that Gordianus investigate the murder and uncover the killer, taking his son-in-law hostage to force the reluctant Gordianus to comply. With one son a trusted aide of Caesar and his son-in-law held by Pompey, Gordianus must learn the secrets of a dead man and reveal his killer to protect his own family from being crushed by the opposing forces that will forever change the Roman world.

8. Last Seen in Massilia : A Novel of Ancient Rome (2000)

In the city of Massilia (modern-day Marseille), on the coast of Southern Gaul, Gordianus the Finder's beloved son Meto has disappeared—branded a traitor to Caesar and apparently dead. Consumed with grief, Gordianus arrives in the city in the midst of a raging civil war, hoping to discover what happened to his son. But when he witnesses the fall of a young woman from a precipice called Sacrifice Rock, he becomes entangled in discovering the truth—did she fall or was she pushed? And where, in all of this, could it be connected to his missing son? Drawn into the city's treacherous depths, where nothing and no one are what they seem, Gordianus must summon all of his skills to discover his son's fate—and to safeguard his own life.

9. The Mist Of Prophecies : A Novel Of Ancient Rome (2002)

In the year 48 B.C., Rome is in the midst of Civil War. As Pompey and Julius Caesar fight for control of the Republic, Rome itself becomes a hotbed of intrigue, riven by espionage, greedy profiteering, and bitter betrayals... A "Mist of Prophecies." A beautiful young seeress staggers across the Roman marketplace and dies in the arms of Gordianus the Finder. Possibly mad and claiming no memory of her past, Cassandra--like her Trojan namesake-was reputed to possess the gift of prophecy. For such a gift there are many in Rome who would pay handsomely...or resort to murder. Obsessed with Cassandra and her mystery, Gordianus begins to investigate her murder. As he gradually peels away the veils of secrecy that surround Cassandra's life and death, he discovers a web of conspiracy linking many of the city's most ruthless and powerful women. Now Gordianus's pursuit of the truth not only endangers his own life, but could change the future of Rome itself. . .

10. The Judgment of Caesar : A Novel of Ancient Rome (2004)

It is 48 B.C. For years now, the rival Roman generals Caesar and Pompey have engaged in a contest for world domination. Both now turn to Egypt, where Pompey plans a last desperate stand on the banks of the Nile, while Caesar's legendary encounter with Queen Cleopatra will spark a romance that reverberates down the centuries. But Egypt is a treacherous land, torn apart by the murderous rivalry between the goddess-queen and her brother King Ptolemy." "Into this hothouse atmosphere of intrigue and deception comes Gordianus the Finder, innocently seeking a cure for his wife, Bethesda, in the sacred waters of the Nile. But when his plans go awry, he finds himself engaged in an even more desperate pursuit - to prove the innocence of the son he once disowned, who stands accused of murder." The judgment of Caesar will determine the fate of Gordianus's son; the choice Caesar makes between Cleopatra and her brother Ptolemy will determine the future of Rome's empire. At the center of these two dilemmas, Gordianus becomes the unwitting fulcrum that will shift the balance of history. Witness to the death throes of the old world, he is to play a critical role in the birth of the world to come.

11. A Gladiator Dies Only Once : The Further Investigations of Gordianus the Finder (2005)

From Kirkus Reviews: "Ancient Rome's preeminent private eye plies his trade in nine reprints culled from the past ten years. Between 77 and 64 b.c.e., Gordianus (The Judgment of Caesar, 2004, etc.) is in demand for a wide variety of cases. In 'The White Fawn,' the most inventive of these tales, renegade general Quintus Sertorius demands that Gordianus recover the missing deer that he insists advises him in warfare. Decimus Brutus wants him to investigate his wife Sempronia, whom he suspects of adultery and murderous plotting in 'The Consul's Wife.' Gordianus investigates murder in 'Archimedes' Tomb' and the more ingenious 'Death by Eros,' an apparent return from the grave in 'A Gladiator Dies Only Once,' and what looks like copyright infringement in 'Something Fishy in Pompeii.' In 'The Cherries of Lucullus,' the retired consul wants him to prove, against all evidence, that his gardener is really an escaped Roman rebel leader. And a beloved toy of his son Eco goes mysteriously missing in the charming 'If a Cyclops Could Vanish in the Blink of an Eye.'Unlike Lawrence Block, Saylor is not equally at home in short stories and novels, and none of these mysteries is very mysterious-'Poppy and the Poisoned Cake' is perhaps the most anticlimactic-yet they all engagingly evoke the last days of the Roman Republic and show the often tumultuous domestic lives of Gordianus' lofty real-life acquaintances."