Steven Saylor Books In Order

Roman Blood

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.

Arms of Nemesis

‘Entertaining…
Saylor’s sense of style and elegantly witty writing make the most of this genre transference.’THE BOSTON GLOBESouth of Rome on the Gulf of Puteoli stands the splendid villa of Marcus Crassus, Rome’s wealthiest citizen. When the estate overseer is murdered, Crassus concludes that the deed was done by two missing slaves, who have probably run off to join the Spartacan Slave Revolt. Unless they are found within five days, Crassus vows to massacre his remaining ninety nine slaves. To Gordianus the Finder falls the fateful task of resolving this riddle from Hades. In a house filled with secrets, the truth is slow to emerge. And as the hour of the massacre approaches, Gordianus realizes that the labyrinthine path he has chosen just may lead to his own destruction…
AN ALTERNATE SELECTION OF THE BOOK OF THE MONTH CLUB

Catilina’s Riddle

Using scholarly historical insight and evocative storytelling that brings to life the glories of ancient Rome, Steven Saylor takes the reader from the bloody lines of clashing Roman armies to the backrooms of the Senate floor, where power hungry politicians wrestle the Fates for control of Rome’s destiny.

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 blood thirsty 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 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.

The Venus Throw

On a chill January evening in 56 B.C., two strange visitors to Rome an Egyptian ambassador and a eunuch priest seek out Gordianus the Finder whose specialty is solving murders. But the ambassador, a philosopher named Dio, has come to ask for something Gordianus cannot give help in staying alive. Before the night is out, he will be 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 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 which lies in secrets not of state, but of the heart.

A Murder on the Appian Way

Torchlight flickers on the elegant marble walls. The sound of a mob echoes in the street. The year is 52 B.C. and the naked body of Publius Clodius is about to be carried through the teaming streets of Rome. Clodius, a rich man turned rabble rouser, was slain on the most splendid road in the world, the Appian Way. Now Clodius’s rival, Milo, is being targeted for revenge and the city teeters on the verge of chaos. An explosive trial will feature the best oration of Cicero and Marc Antony, while Gordianus the Finder has been charged by Pompey the Great himself to look further into the murder. With the Senate House already in ashes, and his own life very much in danger, Gordianus must return to a desrted stretch of the Appian Way to find the truth that can save a city drunk on power, rent by fear, and filled with the madness and glory of Rome.

The House of the Vestals

It is Ancient Rome, and Gordianus the Finder has a knack for finding trouble. Known to many as the one man in the ancient world who can both keep a secret and uncover one, Gordianus lays bare some of his most intriguing and compelling adventures. The House of the Vestals collects nine of the award winning stories of Gordianus the Finder by critically acclaimed, bestselling author Steven Saylor. Filling in some of the gaps between novels, this delightful collection of unique and unforgetable mysteries is Saylor at his finest revealing the intrigues in the secret history of Rome.

Rubicon

As Caesar marches on Rome and panic erupts in the city, Gordianus the Finder discovers, in his own home, the body of Pompey’s favorite cousin. Before fleeing the city, Pompey exacts a terrible bargain from the finder of secrets to unearth the killer, or sacrifice his own son in law to service in Pompey’s legions, and certain death. Amid the city’s sordid underbelly, Gordianus learns that the murdered man was a dangerous spy. Now, as he follows a trail of intrigue, betrayal, and ferocious battles on land and sea, the Finder is caught between the chaos of war and the terrible truth he must finally reveal. AUTHORBIO: STEVEN SAYLOR has had a lifelong fascination with Rome, beginning with the drive in movies of his boyhood Cleopatra, Spartacus, Ben Hur, on to his degree in history from the University of Texas, and through his appearances on the History Channel as an expert on Roman politics and life. He is the author of seven volumes in the Roma Sub Rosa series featuring Gordianus the Finder. He splits his time between homes in Austin, Texas, and Berkeley, California.

Last Seen in Massilia

In 49 B.C., a bloody civil war between the forces loyal to Pompey and Julius Caesar has engulfed the Roman world and no one is allowed to be neutral. With Rome itself in turmoil, Gordianus the Finder receives an anonymous message informing him of the death of his son Meto, who lately has been acting as a double agent for Caesar. In search of the truth about Meto’s fate, Gordianus journeys to the beseiged seaport of Massilia modern day Marseilles which has sided with Pompey and is now stubbornly holding out against Caesar’s troups camped just outside it’s gates and harbor. Using his wits, Gordianus discovers a way past the seige troops and into Massilia. But once there he finds himself in a city where famine and slaughter threaten the populace, and intrigue and recriminations has taken over a city that cannot hope to stand out much longer against the troops outside it’s walls. His only friend is Hieronymus, the doomed scapegoat chosen by the priests of Artemis to bear the sins of the population and save them from annihilation. When Gordianus witnesses the fall of a young woman from a precipice called Sacrifice Rock, he becomes entangled in finding out what exactly happened did she fall or was she pushed? and where, in all of this, is the truth about his missing son.

A Mist of Prophecies

During the Roman Civil War, as the forces of Pompey and Julius Caesar fight a series of battles in the provinces over control of the Republic, Rome itself is a hotbed of intrigue as those left behind wait for word. In this tentative and treacherous environment, a beautiful young seeress is murdered in the marketplace. Possibly mad and claiming no memory of her own past, Cassandra like her namesake is reputed to have had the true gift of prophecy and, as a result, she became a confidante of the rich and powerful. Gordianus the Finder, who had become obsessed with the woman and her mystery, starts to investigate her murder. As the political situation in Rome continues to decay, the citizenry veers towards ruin, and everyone waits for word out in the far off fields of war, Gordianus begins to peel away the veils of secrecy that surround Cassandra’s life and death. What lies underneath involves one, possibly many, of the most powerful women in Rome and the truth could not only put Gordianus’s life in danger but affect the very future of Rome itself. AUTHORBIO: Steven Saylor has had a lifelong fascination with ancient Rome, from the drive in movies of his boyhood Cleopatra, Spartacus, Ben Hur, to his degree in history from the University of Texas, and through his appearances on the History Channel as an expert on Roman politics and life. He is the author of nine volumes in the Roma Sub Rosa series, most recently Last Seen in Massilia, as well as A Twist at the End, a historical novel set in 19th century Texas. He divides his time between Berkeley, California and Austin, Texas.

The Judgment of Caesar

48 B.C.: In search of a cure for his ailing wife, Gordianus the Finder leaves Rome on a journey to Egypt, little realizing the part he is about to play in some of the most crucial moments in the history of the ancient world. The civil wars that have consumed both Rome and Egypt are about to reach their climax in the fabled city of Alexandria, capital of Egypt. Gordianus will witness the death throes of the old world, and play a crucial role in the birth of the world to come. For years, across seas and continents, the rival Roman generals Caesar and Pompey have engaged in a contest for world domination. Now Pompey, his forces destroyed at the battle of Pharsalus in Greece, flees to Egypt, hoping to make a last desperate stand on the banks of the Nile. But Egypt is a treacherous land, torn apart by the murderous rivalry between Queen Cleopatra and her brother King Ptolemy. Caesar, too, is on his way to Egypt, where his legendary encounter with the goddess queen will spark a romance that reverberates down the centuries. Into this hothouse atmosphere of intrigue and deception comes Gordianus the Finder, 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.

A Gladiator Dies Only Once

‘Saylor evokes the ancient world more convincingly than any other writer of his generation.’ The Sunday Times London on The Judgment of Caesar Steven Saylor’s Roma Sub Rosa series of novels, set in the later Roman Republic and featuring Gordianus the Finder, has garnered unusual acclaim from readers and reviewers alike, establishing him as one of the pre eminent historical mystery writers. In A Gladiator Dies Only Once, the second collection of his award winning Gordianus stories, Saylor more than meets the high standards of his previous work. Set mainly in the seventeen years between the events of his first novel, Roman Blood, and his third, Catilina’s Riddle, these tales will delight his many fans while relating previously untold adventures of Gordianus’ early career.

The Triumph of Caesar

The Roman civil war has come to its conclusion Pompey is dead, Egypt is firmly under the control of Cleopatra with the help of Rome’s legions, and for the first time in many years Julius Caesar has returned to Rome itself. Appointed by the Senate as Dictator, the city abounds with rumors asserting that Caesar wishes to be made King the first such that Rome has had in centuries. And that not all of his opposition has been crushed.

Gordianus, recently returned from Egypt with his wife Bethesda, is essentially retired from his previous profession of Finder but even he cannot refuse the call of Calpurnia, Caesar s wife. Troubled by dreams foretelling disaster and fearing a conspiracy against the life of Caesar, she had hired someone to investigate the rumors. But that person, a close friend of Gordianus, has just turned up dead murdered on her doorstep. With four successive Triumphs for Caesar s military victories scheduled for the coming days, and Caesar more exposed to danger than ever before, Calpurnia wants Gordianus to uncover the truth behind the rumored conspiracies to protect Caesar s life, before it is too late. No fan of Caesar s, Gordianus agrees to help but only to find the murderer who killed his friend. But once an investigation is begun, there’s no controlling what it will turn up, who it will put in danger, and where it will end.

The Seven Wonders

The year is 92 B.C. Gordianus has just turned eighteen and is about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime: a far flung journey to see The Seven Wonders of the World. Gordianus is not yet called the Finder but at each of The Seven Wonders, the wide eyed young Roman encounters a mystery to challenge the powers of deduction. Accompanying Gordianus on his travels is his tutor, Antipater of Sidon, the world’s most celebrated poet. But there is more to the apparently harmless old poet than meets the eye. Before they leave home, Antipater fakes his own death and travels under an assumed identity. Looming in the background are the first rumblings of a political upheaval that will shake the entire Roman world. Teacher and pupil journey to the fabled cities of Greece and Asia Minor, and then to Babylon and Egypt. They attend the Olympic Games, take part in exotic festivals, and marvel at the most spectacular constructions ever devised by mankind. Along the way they encounter murder, witchcraft and ghostly hauntings. Traveling the world for the first time, Gordianus discovers that amorous exploration goes hand in hand with crime solving. The mysteries of love are the true wonders of the world, and at the end of the journey, an Eighth Wonder awaits him in Alexandria. Her name is Bethesda.

Roma

Spanning a thousand years, and following the shifting fortunes of two families though the ages, this is the epic saga of Rome, the city and its people. Weaving history, legend, and new archaeological discoveries into a spellbinding narrative, critically acclaimed novelist Steven Saylor gives new life to the drama of the city’s first thousand years from the founding of the city by the ill fated twins Romulus and Remus, through Rome’s astonishing ascent to become the capitol of the most powerful empire in history. Roma recounts the tragedy of the hero traitor Coriolanus, the capture of the city by the Gauls, the invasion of Hannibal, the bitter political struggles of the patricians and plebeians, and the ultimate death of Rome’s republic with the triumph, and assassination, of Julius Caesar. Witnessing this history, and sometimes playing key roles, are the descendents of two of Rome’s first families, the Potitius and Pinarius clans: One is the confidant of Romulus. One is born a slave and tempts a Vestal virgin to break her vows. One becomes a mass murderer. And one becomes the heir of Julius Caesar. Linking the generations is amysterious talisman as ancient as the city itself. Epic in every sense of the word, Roma is a panoramic historical saga and Saylor’s finest achievement to date.

Empire

In the international bestseller ‘Roma’, Steven Saylor told the story of the first thousand years of Rome by following the descendants of a single bloodline. Now, in ‘Empire‘, Saylor charts the destinies of five more generations of the Pinarius family, from the reign of the first emperor, Augustus, to the glorious height of Rome’s Empire under Hadrian. Through the eyes of the Pinarii, we witness the machinations of Tiberius, the madness of Caligula, the cruel escapades of Nero, and the chaos of the Year of Four Emperors in 69 A.D. The deadly paranoia of Domitian is followed by the Golden Age of Trajan and Hadrianobut even the most enlightened emperors wield the power to inflict death and destruction on a whim. ‘Empire‘ is strewn with spectacular scenes, including the Great Fire of 64 A.D. that ravaged the city, Nero’s terrifying persecution of the Christians, and the mind blowing opening games of the Colosseum. But at the novel’s heart are the wrenching choices and seductive temptations faced by each new generation of the Pinarii. One unwittingly becomes the sexual plaything of the notorious Messalina. One enters into a clandestine affair with a Vestal virgin. One falls under the charismatic spell of Nero, while another is drawn into the strange new cult of those who deny the gods and call themselves Christians. However diverse their destinies and desires, all the Pinarii are united by one thing: the mysterious golden talisman called the fascinum handed down from a time before Rome existed. As it pas*ses from generation to generation, the fascinum seems to exercise a power not only over those who wear it, but over the very fate of the Empire. Praise for Steven Saylor: ‘Saylor expertly weaves the true history of Rome with the lives and loves of its fictional citizens’.’Daily Express’. ‘Saylor’s scholarship is breathtaking and his writing enthrals’. Ruth Rendell. ‘With the scalpel like deftness of a Hollywood director, Saylor puts his finger on the very essence of Roman history’. ‘Times Literary Supplement’. ‘Readers will find his work wonderfully and gracefully researched…
this is entertainment of the first order’. ‘Washington Post’.

Honour the Dead

In an artful blending of history, literature, and vivid imagination, author Steven Saylor has crafted a novel that, much as Caleb Carr’s bestselling The Alienist, combines real characters and true crime into a story that is an engrossing work of fiction. The city of Austin, Texas, ‘is fearfully dull,’ wrote young Will Porter to a friend in the spring of 1885, ‘except for the frequent raids of the Servant Girl Annihilators, who make things lively in the dead of night.’ Years later, Will Porter would become famous as O. Henry, the toast of New York and the most celebrated writer in America. The long ago Texas killings, which he dubbed the work of the Servant Girl Annihilators perhaps the first recorded serial murders in America would remain unsolved. But the appearance of a merciless blackmailer and a mysterious stranger would draw Porter back into the past, and back to Texas, to confront the stunning solution to those murders and the secrets of his own soul. When he was a young man in Austin in that spring of 1885, Porter fell in love. Her name was Eula Phillips. She was beautiful. She was married to someone else. And she was doomed to be a victim of the Servant Girl Annihilators. The first victims were young Black women who worked in the households of Austin’s most prominent citizens. The crimes were unspeakable. The authorities were baffled. The murders continued, month after month, until suddenly, shockingly, the pattern changed. On a bloody Christmas Eve, two women neither of them Black and neither of them servants were horribly murdered, seemingly by the same vicious stalker. One of them was Eula Phillips. Her death was to be a defining event in the life of the young man who would one day become O. Henry. The trial that resulted uncovering one explosive scandal after another would tear the city of Austin apart. The capitol of Texas was a city in uneasy transition. Only a few years earlier, outlaw gangs and Comanche Indians had roamed the hills where now stood the homes of cattle barons and university professors. The animosities of the Civil War still lingered, and the struggle of Blacks for equality was just beginning. By day, politicians in the state legislature debated equal rights for women; by night, those same politicians mingled with the high class prostitutes of Guy Town, the city’s notorious vice district. Southern traditions of manners and decorum concealed ugly secrets, all of which would be revealed before the saga of the Servant Girl Annihilators reached its end. Against this remarkably rich background, Steven Saylor, author of the acclaimed Roma Sub Rosa series, has crafted a novel that melds fact with fiction, employing characters both real and imagined. The crimes and trials described in A Twist at the End actually happened. In real life, no satisfactory resolution was reached. But in the course of investigating the crimes, Saylor has come up with his own startling conclusion to a riveting, century old mystery. The result is a masterful novel of intrigue and murder, yet at the same time a romance of time and place, with a colorful cast of memorable characters brought vividly to life. It’s a true tale of Texas, grand in both setting and scope.