Series: SPQR

Book 1

Spqr II: The Catiline Conspiracy

Spqr IV: The Temple of the Muses

Spqr VI: Nobody Loves a Centurion

Decius Caecilius Metellus is happy. The weather is beautiful and he is standing for office (literally; standing, in the Roman Forum soliciting votes) with a sure chance of winning. And Caesar's ongoing dreary war is far off in Gaul. Decius is confident that another war looming over Rome, instigated by one Crassus against the Parthians (for no reason but possible worldly gain); will be voted down in the Senate. But the vote does not stop Crassus. On the day he and his troops set out from Rome, the Tribune Ateius Capitus, leader of the opposition, shrieks an ancient and terrible curse over the huge crowd assembled -- a curse that frightens not only the man in the street but the highest Romans. When Ateius is murdered soon after, Decius, solver of past mysteries, has the ugly task of finding the killer. Fascinating details of Rome's mixed attitudes about the power of magic and the practice of rational politics illuminate this latest of Roberts's strong historical mysteries.

Book 8

The River God's Vengeance

by John Maddox Roberts

Published 19 January 2004

Book 9

Spqr IX: The Princess and the Pirates

by John Maddox Roberts

Published 1 June 2005

Book 10

A Point of Law

by John Maddox Roberts

Published 16 May 2006

Book 11

Spqr XI Under Vesuvius

by John Maddox Roberts

Published 10 December 2007

Things are going well for Decius Caecilius Metellus. He is Praetor Peregrinus, which means he has to judge a case or two, but those cases are outside of the City. His cases will be those dealing with foreigners, and all of Italy is his province. His first stop is Campania, "Italy's most popular resort district." Decius and his wife, Julia, are happy for a change of scenery. But the good times end when, in a town near Vesuvius, a priest's daughter is murdered. Decius must find her killer and keep the mob off a young boy who everyone blames but he believes to be innocent. Decius may have acquired more prestige, but he's also acquired more trouble.

With his SPQR novels, John Maddox Roberts has written a satisfying and entertaining historical mystery series. The stakes just keep getting higher in this latest atmospheric puzzle.

Book 11