Product Description

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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18079 in Books
• Published on: 2005-06-16
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

Review
"Saylor's scholarship is breathtaking, his writing enthrals." Ruth Rendell "Engrossing... Simmering with eroticism... An absorbing brew of Rome's decay." Publishers Weekly on The Venus Throw "How wonderful, to have a scholar write about ancient Rome; how comforting, to feel instant confidence in the historical accuracy of a novel." Sunday Times"

About the Author
Steven Saylor's fascination with Ancient Rome began in childhood. A history graduate and former newspaper and magazine editor, he has now completed numerous novels featuring Gordianus the Finder. He lives in Berkeley, California.

Customer Reviews

A Forsyte Saga set in ancient Rome
Roman Blood, the first of Steven Saylor's Sub Rosa series of novels, introduces Gordianus the Finder and his family, fictional characters who become increasingly memorable and claim a hold on our affections and sympathetic concern as they interact throughout the series with many famous historical characters, Julius Caesar, Pompey The Great, Cicero, and Spartacus being the best known. The lawlessness of a great city - Rome - without a police force; the brutal treatment of slaves as chattel; the political intrigues and assassinations - all are faithfully portrayed in historically accurate and authentic detail. But perhaps the most remarkable aspect of these novels is their overlay of modern liberal values represented by the fictional narrator, who manumits (frees) and marries his Egyptian concubine, Bethesda, adopts two slaves as his sons, understands and accepts the independence and sovereignty of women, reveres and serves the truth as much as Diogenes, and evinces a genuine religious piety. The characters are memorably drawn and individuated, and the finder's daughter, whose patronymic name Gordiana is shortened to Diana, is perhaps the most appealing daughter in literature since Cordelia. Like all works of a master spirit, these books provide an edifying education, with recognizable allusions to ancient as well as Elizabethan literature, and they contain flashes of sardonic humor appropriate to the anatomy of the human condition that they reveal. They are among the very best of modern recreations of that peculiar combination of greatness and squalor that was ancient Rome.

Hooked instantly
I stumbled across this book quite by hazard but was hooked from the very first page. Gordianus, 'the last honest man in Rome', is thoroughly believable because - how rare this has become in historical thrillers and novels - he is depicted as a real human being with real emotions (happiness, joy, sadness, jealousy, you name it) instead of a one-dimensional puppet.

The setting is very well drawn and the plot engrossing, the hours you'll spend reading this book will afterwards feel as if you've stepped back in time. What more can one ask for? I for one immediately went after all the other books in the series.

Just buy it and read it...
This is, simply, one of the best historical novels I have read (and I've read a few). There's no point in wasting hundreds of words on it - just read it and enjoy a superb story (based on Cicero's first major trial) with a realistic portrayal of Republican Rome.

Then, when you've done with that, read the other Gordianus books - you won't regret it!

So there!