The story is told in the first person by the protagonist 'Gordianus the Finder' who is a private investigator in the days of Republican Rome.

This is the second novel in the 'Gordianus the Finder' series by Steven Saylor. Now Gordianus the Finder has been summoned from Rome by a mysterious client to find out the truth about the murder before the three days are up.Įnmeshed in a world of desperate slaves and duplicitous masters, extravagant feasts and sordid secrets, Gordianus must risk all he loves, including his life, to stop a senseless slaughter-and save the very future of Rome itself.Ī murder mystery in the days of Spartacus In response to the murder, the wealthy, powerful Crassus vows to honor an ancient law and kill his ninety-nine remaining slaves in three days. The murdered man was the overseer of Marcus Crassus's estate, apparently killed by two runaway slaves bent on joining Spartacus's revolt. The only clues are a blood-soaked cloak, and, carved into the stone at the corpse's feet, the word Sparta. 'About this title' may belong to another edition of this title.The hideously disfigured body was found in the atrium. Margaret Sanborn, Senior Publicity Copywriter 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. 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. 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. Set in ancient Rome before the rise of Julius Caesar, these are not your usual cozy reads. With Steven Saylor's mysteries, we have that Roman behind the door. 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.

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. 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.

Arms of nemesis steven saylor