Roman Blood: A Novel of Ancient Rome (The Roma Sub Rosa Series)
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- $19.99
Publisher Description
In Rome, 80 BC, on a warm spring morning, Gordianus the Finder receives a summons to the house of a then-unknown young advocate and orator, Cicero. Ambitious and brilliant, the twenty-six-year-old Cicero is about to argue his first important case. His client is a wealthy farmer, one Sextus Roscius of the town of Ameria, who stands accused of the most unforgivable act in Ancient Rome: the murder of his father.
Hired by Cicero to investigate the charges, Gordianus sets out to discover the truth in a case—and a society—rife with deceit, betrayal, and conspiracy. As he draws nearer to the truth, the conspiracy looms ever larger until Gordianus begins to perceive the hand of the dictator Sulla himself. Playing for stakes much higher than he bargained for, Gordianus finds that not only is he himself endangered, but so are all those around him.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Solving murders in a toga has its own unique challenges. Roman Blood, the first book in Steven Saylor’s enthralling historical mystery series, introduces us to Gordianus the Finder, the ancient Roman equivalent of the modern private eye. When Gordianus is enlisted by a young lawyer (and future statesman) named Cicero to prove that his client didn’t kill his powerful father, he soon discovers that in Rome, the truth is all too frequently a matter of opinion. Saylor brilliantly builds this atmospheric mystery around the sketchy but fascinating details known about the historic real-life case of Cicero’s first trial—we loved coming face-to-face with other famous figures from our history books. Narrator Scott Harrison sets the scene with authority, allowing the extravagance and decay of the eternal city to come to life. History and mystery fans will find an empire’s worth of thrills here.
