Roma Sub Rosa Mystery Series (original) (raw)

THE SEVEN WONDERS Accompanied by his beloved tutor Antipater, the 18-year-old Gordianus embarks on a far-flung journey to see the Seven Wonders of the World, encountering murder, mayhem, and magic “As always, Saylor excels at bringing the past alive.” (Publishers Weekly). Amazon • Barnes & Noble • BookDepository • IndieBound • audio from Audible • audio from iTunes •

RAIDERS OF THE NILE Gordianus celebrates his 22nd birthday in Alexandria, capital of Egypt, but gets a rude surprise when his slave Bethesda is kidnapped. To save her, Gordianus ventures into the lawless Nile Delta—and finds himself drawn into a plot to steal the golden sarcophagus of Alexander the Great. “Exuberantly entertaining!” (USA Today) • Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Book Depository • IndieBound • audio from Audible • audio from iTunes •

WRATH OF THE FURIES Lured by a cryptic message, young Gordianus journeys to the city of Ephesus, taking his beloved Bethesda with him—even as King Mithridates is planning the overnight massacre of every Roman in the city. “A highly suspenseful plot and a moving resolution.” (Publisher’s Weekly)Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Book Depository • IndieBound • audio from Audible • audio from iTunes •

THE HOUSE OF THE VESTALS A collection of nine short stories; all take place in the period between the novels Roman Blood and Arms of Nemesis. “Intriguing adventures set in Rome’s ancient, grimy and bustling streets, full of a brilliantly-drawn cast of characters. Murder and thievery, blackmail gone horribly wrong and the ghosts of dead heroes throng the pages.” (Gay Times/London) • Amazon • large-print edition • Barnes & Noble • Book Depository • IndieBound • audio cd from Amazon • audio from iTunes •

A GLADIATOR DIES ONLY ONCE A second collection of short stories finds Gordianus investigating suspicious doings at gladiator matches and chariot races. “Intriguing puzzles....The stories are admirably varied—some are extensive mysteries; others offer short, sharp slices of life. All are marvelous reads in themselves and marvelous reflections of ancient Rome.” (Booklist). • Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Book Depository • IndieBound • audio cd from Amazon • audio from Audible • audio from iTunes •

ARMS OF NEMESIS As the Spartacus slave revolt rages through Italy, Gordianus is summoned to the Bay of Naples by Rome’s richest man, Marcus Crassus. Two escaped slaves appear to have murdered their master...and unless Gordianus can prove otherwise, every slave in the household will be slaughtered. “An intriguing mix of historical accuracy and tense drama.” (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) • Amazon • audiobook • Barnes & Noble • Book Depository • IndieBound • mp3 cd audio from Amazon • audiocassettes from Amazon • audio from iTunes •

CATILINA ’ S RIDDLE Gordianus and his family become enmeshed in the political rivalry of Cicero and the charismatic radical Catilina. Why do headless bodies keep turning up on Gordianus’s property? Which side in the bloody conflict will he ultimately choose? “The solution of the whodunit is a textbook example of the Least Suspected Person.” (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine) • Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Book Depository • IndieBound • audiocassettes from Amazon • audio cd from Amazon • audio from iTunes •

THE VENUS THROW Gordianus is drawn into the decadent circle of the poet Catullus and his amoral lover Clodia. Who poisoned the philosopher Dio? What does the eunuch Trigonian secretly desire? As the crumbling Roman Republic spins out of control, Gordianus confronts temptations he never dreamed of. “The best mystery novel of 1995...a work of art.” (The Oregonian) • Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Book Depository • IndieBound • mp3 cd audio from Amazon • audio from iTunes •

A MURDER ON THE APPIAN WAY As civil war between Caesar and Pompey looms, demagogues wage gang battles in the streets of Rome. When the rabble-rouser Clodius is killed on the Appian Way, Rome erupts in flames. His arch-enemy Milo is the obvious suspect...or is he? Sir Derek Jacobi calls it “an enthralling re-creation of its time and place, a fascinating piece of story-telling.” • Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Book Depository • IndieBound • audio cd from Amazon • audio from iTunes •

THE TRIUMPH OF CAESARRome, 46 B.C.: Now dictator for life, Julius Caesar prepares to celebrate his triumphs with stupendous pageantry—but Caesar’s wife Calpurnia is convinced of a plot on her husband’s life. Once again, murder and intrigue draw Gordianus into the vortex of history. “Stellar...compelling...a triumph!” (Publishers Weekly) Read more reviews here. • Read Steven’s essay “Gordianus Lives!” (from Mystery Readers Journal). • Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Book Depository • IndieBound • audio cd from Amazon • audio from Audible • audio from iTunes •

THE THRONE OF CAESAR The end. The intrigue. The untold story of the Ides of March. “For more than 25 years, the most reliably entertaining and well-researched novels about the ancient world have been Steven Saylor’s tales of the Roman proto-detective Gordianus the Finder. The Throne of Caesar brings the series to a satisfying conclusion!” (The Sunday Times/London). Amazon • Kindle • Barnes & Noble • Nook • Book Depository • IndieBound • Audible audiobook •

	A TWIST AT THE END Ne w York Times Book Review: “ A riveting historical mystery...fascinating and provocative. ” A gripping novel based on the serial murders that terrorized Austin, Texas, in 1885, and the scandalous trials that followed. Drawing on a decade of research, Steven recreates a forgotten era, and (with O. Henry as his hero) finds a solution to the first recorded serial murders in U.S. history. • Watch an interview with Steven about O. Henry • For reviews and an interview, click here. • Kindle • Nook • iBooks • Audible audiobook
	HAVE YOU SEEN DAWN? Austin American-Statesman: A “rocket of a read...with enough red herrings and things that go bump in the night to keep you entertained all the way.” • For more reviews, click here • Steven says: “This is my most autobiographical work, because it draws deeply on my own past growing up in a small town in the heart of the Texas hill country. But the plot is pure contemporary suspense — a definite change of pace for me.” Available for Kindle • Nook • iBooks
	FUTURE, PRESENT, PAST Three short stories from three different genres: “Insecticide,” a chilling tale of the near-future…“Murder Myth-Begotten,” a modern-day story of suspense…and “The Eagle and the Rabbit,” set in 146 B.C. after the fall of the Carthage, as a handful of survivors are hunted down by ruthless Roman mercenaries—a timeless tale of cruelty and betrayal, courage and freedom. Kindle • iBooks • Nook
	MY MOTHER’S GHOST In these three autobiographical essays, Steven writes with remarkable candor about his mother’s death, growing up in a small Texas town, and his marriage to another man. Also included is the prize-winning short story “Kinder, Gentler.” Kindle • iBooks • Nook
	A BOOKISH BENT A baker’s dozen of essays written over a period of twenty years, beginning in 1992 when Steven was asked to interview the poet Thom Gunn. All these essays have a connection to reading and writing, including “On Big Trucks, Bush, and Bikes,” which begins at the Texas Book Festival in Austin but ends with a chilling reflection on the near-miss that almost prevented George Bush’s presidency. Kindle • iBooks • Nook
	ROGUES This massive, multi-genre anthology edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois includes includes a never-before-published Steven Saylor short story, “Ill Seen in Tyre,” a “lost episode” from the journey of young Gordianus to see The Seven Wonders. “Not a single bad story in the bunch…The table of contents alone will make fans from all genre aisles salivate.”—Library Journal • Amazon • Barnes & Noble • iBooks
	WARRIORS This massive, multi-genre anthology edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois includes Steven’s story “The Eagle and the Rabbit”, set in 146 B.C., about Roman slave traders tracking down the last scattered survivors of Carthage. Coincidentally, there’s another tale about Rome v. Carthage in the anthology, “The Triumph” by Robin Hobb. The huge hardback was split into three paperbacks; Steven’s story is in Volume I. Get the whole anthology from Amazon • Barnes & Noble • mp3 cd audio from Amazon • CD-ROM from Amazon • audio from iTunes •
	DOWN THESE STRANGE STREETS This massive, multi-genre anthology edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois includes Steven’s story “Styx and Stones” (later incorporated into The Seven Wonders), which takes young Gordianus to ancient Babylon, plus new stories of the uncanny by Charlaine Harris, S.M. Stirling, Diana Gabaldon, and many more. • Amazon • Barnes & Noble • mp3 cd audio from Amazon • audio from iTunes •
	A CASUALTY OF WAR Here’s a rarity, found only in this book: Steven’s early, prize-winning short story “Kinder, Gentler” (from 1989) appears in this anthology of gay fiction edited by the late Peter Burton. Other authors include Francis King, Richard Zimler, Hugh Fleetwood, and Neil Bartlett. • Amazon.com • Barnes & Noble
	LONE STAR SLEUTHS An excerpt from Steven’s novel A Twist at the End appears in this anthology of Texas crime fiction from the University of Texas Press. Other authors in the collection include Kinky Friedman, Mary Willis Walker, Carolyn Hart, Nevada Barr, and Jesse Sublett. • Amazon.com • Barnes & Noble
	ROME AT WAR Steven contributed a brief introduction to this omnibus edition of three excellent book-length works: Caesar’s Gallic Wars by Kate Gilliver, Caesar’s Civil War by Adrian Goldsworthy, and Rome at War AD 293-696 by Michael Whitby. • Amazon.com • Barnes & Noble

Scholars look at Steven’s work...

A student looks at Steven’s work...

PRENTICE HALL REFERENCE GUIDE (6th Edition, 2005) by Muriel Harris includes, as its model essay for writing about literature, an award-winning student essay by Claire Sonntag of the University of Delaware, “PUDD’N HEADWILSON and ARMS OF NEMESIS: Two Portraits of Slavery,” in which Steven does not come off badly compared to the great Mark Twain (pp. 534-538). The book is a standard guide for English usage, writing style, and research techniques for college students. Amazon.com

	FELINE FELONIES edited by Abigail Browning, features over 400 pages of the best in feline sleuthing. Steven Saylor contributes “The Alexandrian Cat.” Other authors in the collection include Ruth Rendell, Patricia Highsmith, P.G. Wodehouse, Theodore Sturgeon and Lilian Jackson Braun. Amazon.com
	THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF ROMAN WHODUNNITS edited by Mike Ashley, includes an introduction by Steven Saylor, “The Long Reach of Rome,” and the Gordianus novella, “A Gladiator Dies Only Once.” Other authors in this 500-page collection include Simon Scarrow, Tom Holt, John Maddox Roberts, Marilyn Todd, and Caroline Lawrence. Amazon.com
	DEATH COMES EASY: The Gay Times Book of Murder Stories edited by Peter Burton, includes Steven Saylor’s “ Death by Eros, ” in which Gordianus encounters the powers of love and death on the Bay of Naples. Other authors in this wide-ranging 400-page collection include Perry Brass, Francis King, Josh Lanyon, Felice Picano, and Michael Wilcox. Amazon.com
	THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF MORE HISTORICAL WHODUNNITS edited by Mike Ashley, includes Steven Saylor’s “ Poppy and the Poisoned Cake, ” in which Gordianus is called on to help one of Rome’s leading citizens, who fears his closest relatives may be plotting to kill him — but seems to fear the scandal more than the crime. Other authors in this big (500 pages) collection include Michael Kurland, Peter Tremayne, and Marilyn Todd. Amazon.com
	CRIME THROUGH TIME III edited by Sharan Newman with an introduction by Anne Perry, “leads off with a solid new case for Steven Saylor’s Gordianus the Finder” (Jon Breen, EQMM). In “ The Consul ’ s Wife, ” foreign intrigue and an illicit love affair play out against the backdrop of the chariot races in the Circus Maximus. Other authors in this all-new collection include Harry Turtledove, H.R.F. Keating, Jan Burke, Andrew Greeley, and Sharon McCrumb. Amazon.com
	CREME DE LA CRIME edited by Janet Hutchings, features 27 stories, all by award-winning authors, all culled from the pages of America’s leading mystery magazine, Ellery Queen. In Steven Saylor’s “ Poppy and the Poisoned Cake, ” Gordianus is called on to help one of Rome’s leading citizens, who fears his closest relatives may be plotting to kill him — but seems to fear the scandal more than the crime. Other authors include Ruth Rendell, Lawrence Block, Joyce Carol Oates, and Andrew Vachss. Amazon.com
	PAST POISONS The Ellis Peters Memorial Anthology of Historical Crime, edited by Maxim Jakubowski, features Steven Saylor’s “ Death by Eros, ” in which Gordianus encounters the powers of love and death on the Bay of Naples. Others among the 20 authors joining in this homage to the late creator of Brother Cadfael include Edward Marston, Peter Lovesey, Lindsey Davis, Anne Perry, Michael Pearce, Peter Tremayne, and (with her final story) the late Kate Ross. Amazon.com
	CLASSICAL WHODUNNITS edited by Mike Ashley, features 20 cases solved by sleuths from ancient Greece and Rome. Authors include Lindsey Davis, Anthony Price, and Brian Stableford. In Steven Saylor’s “ The White Fawn, ” Gordianus travels to Spain, where the rebel commander Sertorius is waging war against Rome with the help of a supernatural fawn. The volume also features a preface by Saylor, “ A Murder, Now and Then... ”, about the allure of the classical whodunnit. Amazon.com
	CRIME THROUGH TIME edited by Miriam Grace Monfredo and Sharan Newman, features historical mysteries from Ancient Egypt to WWII by 21 writers, including Anne Perry, Laurie King, and the late Kate Ross. In Steven Saylor’s “ Archimedes ’ Tomb, ” Gordianus and Eco venture to Syracuse to help Cicero find a lost tomb...and solve a particularly nasty murder. Amazon.com