Steven Saylor

A prequel to the best-selling Roma Sub Rosa series traces 18-year-old Gordianus's journey to the Seven Wonders of the World, each of which pose a mystery that challenges his budding powers of deduction and the tenacity of celebrated poet Antipater of Sidon, who fakes his death to accompany young Gordianus.

South of Rome on the Gulf of Puteoli stands the splendid villa of Marcus Crassus, Rome's wealthiest citizen. When the estate overseer is murdered, Crassus concludes that the deed was done by two missing slaves, who have probably run off to join the Spartacan Slave Revolt. Unless they are found within three days, Crassus vows to massacre his remaining ninety-nine slaves. To Gordianus the Finder falls the fateful task of resolving this riddle from Hades....

"In 88 B.C. it seems as if all the world is at war. From Rome to Greece and to Egypt itself, most of civilization is on the verge of war. The young Gordianus--a born-and-raised Roman citizen--is living in Alexandria, making ends meet by plying his trade of solving puzzles and finding things out for pay. He whiles away his time with his slave Bethesda, waiting for the world to regain its sanity. But on the day Gordianus turns twenty-two, Bethesda is...

Continuing the epic story begun in his "New York Times"-bestselling novel "Roma," Saylor charts the destinies of five more generations of the aristocratic Pinarius family, from the reign of Augustus to the height of Rome's empire.

In Ancient Rome, sleuth Gordianus the Finder investigates the death by garroting of Pompey's cousin. The probe plays out amid political turmoil as Julius Caesar invades from Gaul, starting a civil war.