Saylor rivals Robert Graves in his knack for making the classical world comealive. ortland Oregonian Engrossing...Ironic and satisfying. SanFrancisco Chronicle... » 

Saylor rivals Robert Graves in his knack for making the classical world comealive. ortland Oregonian Engrossing...Ironic and satisfying. SanFrancisco Chronicle The third in Saylors Roma Sub Rosa novels featuringGordianus the Finder. Gordianus disillusioned by the corruption of Rome circa63 B.C. has fled the city with his family to live on a farm in the Etruscancountryside. But this bucolic life is disrupted by the machinations andmurderous plots of two politicians Roman consul Cicero Gordianuss longtimepatron and populist senator Catilina Ciceros political rival and a candidateto replace him in the annual elections for consul. Claiming that Catilina plansan uprising if he loses the race Cicero asks Gordianus to keep a watchful eyeon the radical. Although he distrusts both men Gordianus is forced into thecenter of the power struggle when his sixyearold daughter Diana finds aheadless corpse in their stable. Shrewdly depicting deadly politicalmaneuverings this addictive mystery also displays the authors firm grasp ofhistory and human character. On first publication back in 1994 CatilinasRiddle was a finalist for the Hammet Award. «