In a Rome torn by riots and pulled apart by rival factions, Gordianus the Finder must uncover the truth about the murder of Publius Clodius, a populist politician whose assassination threatens to destroy the Republic.
An anthology of nine short stories with one short story that takes place well before this book’s publication (as #6 in the series) and the other eight taking place between the first and the second in the Roma Sub Rosa ancient Roman mystery series.
On a chill January evening in 56 B.C., 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.
Rome is divided between Cicero and Catilina in the consular elections, and Cicero pulls Gordianus the Finder out of retirement to find the dirt on Catilina. In this cloak-and-dagger political struggle, Gordianus wonders about the truth of Catilina until a headless corpse ominously appears on his farm.
It’s 92 B.C. and eighteen-year-old Gordianus embarks on the adventure of a lifetime: a far-flung journey to see the Seven Wonders of the World. Not yet called “the Finder”, Gordianus encounters a mystery at each of the Wonders to challenge his powers of deduction.
When Marcus Crassus’ overseer is found hideously murdered with a note left, a mysterious client hires Gordianus the Finder to find out the truth about the murder. Before Crassus’ vow to slaughter his remaining slaves in three days.