Roman Blood - Softcover

Steven Saylor

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1845292480 ISBN 13: 9781845292485

Publisher: Robinson Publishing, 2005

Synopsis

Steven Saylor's historical mysteries set in ancient Rome and featuring investigator Gordianus the Finder enjoy a widespread following in America. Over the next two years, Robinson will publish the whole series - five novels to date - in the UK. We begin on 25 September with three titles: Roman Blood and Arms of Nemesis in paperback and the most recent title, A Murder on the Appian Way, in hardback. Vivid historical fact, a completely believable world and keen plotting are the hallmarks of Saylor's novels. In Roman Blood Gordianus the Finder - the large, eccentric, philosophical investigator whose famed skills and integrity have made him much sought after in Rome - is hired by the young Cicero to acquit or convict a man accused of murdering his own father, an ugly, delicate case that soon produces dangerous fireworks.

About this title

From the Publisher

My high school Latin teacher -- Sister Ethelreda, are you out there in cyberspace? -- enthralled her class for four years with her tales of ancient Rome, from culinary trivia to the deeds of the noble generals and the great Roman patriots. It was her hope, as she said, not only to teach us this beautiful language but to be able to bring to life for us the people who formed the vibrant culture that was Rome's. I heard an echo of her words many years later when I read THE FAR ARENA, in which the protagonist wished earnestly to be able to turn a doorknob in time and find the Roman behind the door.

With Steven Saylor's mysteries, we have that Roman behind the door. Set in ancient Rome before the rise of Julius Caesar, these are not your usual cozy reads. His detective, Gordianus the Finder, seems a scruffy sort, not a noble Roman from the history books by any means, and his Rome is a rough-and-tumble place full of noisy street vendors and con artists as well as more well-to-do, upstanding citizens, a city full of gossip and intrigue and nasty politics as vicious as anything we see today. The noble Romans do appear in his books, of course, but they're a far cry from the bloodless statues who watch serenely from the covers of Latin books as students painstakingly translate their dry speeches. Marcus Tullius Cicero, for one, appears in CATILINA'S RIDDLE not as a statesman but as an underhanded schemer obsessed with destroying Lucius Sergius Catilina, who has gone down in history, rightly or wrongly, as a man who attempted to bring down the Roman Republic. You, the reader, will be left to judge.

--Margaret Sanborn, Senior Publicity Copywriter

From the Inside Flap

"Remarkable...Takes the reader deep into the political, legal and family arenas of Ancient Rome, providing a stirring blend of history and mystery, well seasoned with conspiracy, passion and intrigue."
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
One unseasonably warm spring morning in 80 B.C., Gordianus the Finder is summoned to investigate a murder. Sextus Roscius is accused of killing his own father. This, in a society rife with deceit, betrayal, and conspiracy, where neither citizen nor slave can be trusted to speak the truth. But even Gordianus is not prepared for the spectacularly dangerous fireworks that will attend the resolution of this ugly, delicate case....

Edition details

• Publisher: Robinson Publishing
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1845292480
• ISBN 13: 9781845292485
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 564