By that standard, the Rome in which Steven Saylor sets his novels about Gordianus the Finder is interesting and especially deadly. Under the rule of Sulla the dictator, Rome is recovering from a recent civil war that resulted in the deaths of thousands of its citizens, some after being declared an enemy of the state by Sulla.

Gordianus’ case doesn’t concern these proscriptions at first. The young advocate Cicero asks Gordianus to investigate the murder of an old man, for which the son has been charged and awaits trial. Following in the footsteps of Raymond Chandler’s Sam Spade, Gordianus moves through all levels of Roman society in his quest for the truth. And, like Spade, the trail twists its way into the circles of power where telling the truth can get you killed.

Saylor succeeds in merging classical times to the classic detecting tradition, offering a story full of unexpected twists right up until the last page, while breathing life into Rome’s marble statues and repopulating its ruins. We see the shopkeepers, prostitutes, nobles, wives and advocates going about their business, oblivious to history and concentrating, as we do, only on the here and now. In Saylor’s hands, the human and the historical are merged, and the result is a trip to Rome unavailable through any travel agent.

--William Peschel