Senators might be conspiring plans may be underway soothsayers are telling Caesar to beware the Ides of March … and at first glance, none of it makes much sense, as Gordianus' whip-smart daughter Diana points out: “But at this point, who would want Caesar dead? The civil war is over at last, and from what I understand, Caesar has been far more merciful than those who fought the last civil war, men like Marius and Sulla.”

But Saylor's novels very refreshingly unfold in something approaching real time, so this is a much older Gordianus, a different house, a much older Tiro, a much more famous Cicero, and a much different Rome, a Rome now in its fifth year of the dictatorship of Julius Caesar – a Rome that's Republican in name only.Īs quickly becomes apparent, Cicero isn't seeking the help of Gordianus in solving a crime – he's hoping to enlist that help in preventing one: Cicero is worried about possible plots to assassinate Caesar on the eve of the Dictator's promised military campaign against Parthia. In Saylor's latest novel, The Throne of Caesar, history repeats itself: Tiro returns to the house of Gordianus on a mission from Cicero. Tiro comes to Gordianus on a mission from Cicero, and a tremendously enjoyable series of historical murder mysteries begins.

In that book, the up-and-coming Roman advocate and orator Cicero sends his trusted aide Tiro to the house of Gordianus the Finder, a Roman with a reputation for making discreet inquiries, solving thorny problems, and, as his informal title indicates, locating missing items or people – a private investigator operating at the heart of Republican Rome. It's been 28 years since Steven Saylor's “Roma Sub Rosa” series of murder mysteries set in ancient Rome first started, with 1991's Roman Blood.

Roma by steven saylor