Ancient Rome Crime

With commanding skill, Thomas R. Martin tells the remarkable and dramatic story of how a tiny, poor, and threatened settlement grew to become, during its height, the dominant power in the Mediterranean world for 500 years. Encompassing the period from Rome's founding in the eighth century BC through Justinian's rule in the sixth century AD, he offers a distinctive perspective on the Romans and their civilization by employing fundamental Roman values as a lens through which to view both their rise and spectacular fall. 

From “one of America’s smartest and most charming writers” (NPR), an archaeological romp through the entire history of humankind—and through all five senses—from tropical Polynesian islands to forbidding arctic ice floes, and everywhere in between. Whether it’s the mighty pyramids of...

#1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER "Terrific . . . gripping . . . A literally shattering climax."—The New York Times Book Review All along the Mediterranean coast, the Roman empire’s richest citizens are relaxing in their luxurious villas, enjoying the last days of summer. The world’s largest...

Rome is a city of myth and legend. The Eternal City, the city of the seven hills, the sacred city, the caput mundi, the center of the world, Roma, Rome, by any of her many names is a city built of history and blood, marble and water, war and conquest. From legendary beginnings, a city rose from the swamp surrounded by the seven hills and split by the Tiber River. Built and rebuilt, a sacred republic and a divine empire, blessed by a thousand gods and by One, the story of her rise and fall has been told and retold for a thousand years and is still relevant in today's world, as echoes of her ancient glory have shaped our culture, laws, lifestyle, and beliefs in subtle and pervasive ways.

This is the story of the greatest empire the world has ever known. Simon Baker charts the rise and fall of the world's first superpower, focusing on six momentous turning points that shaped Roman history. Welcome to Rome as you've never seen it before—awesome and splendid, gritty and squalid. From the conquest of the Mediterranean beginning in the third century BC to the destruction of the Roman Empire at the hands of barbarian invaders some seven centuries later, we discover the most critical episodes in Roman history.

Bloomsbury presents Bog Queen by Anna North, read by Lily Newmark NATIONAL BESTSELLER NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY PUBLISHERS WEEKLY AND ESQUIRE In the gorgeous new novel by the New York Times bestselling author of Outlawed, “a strangely well-preserved Iron Age body turns up in an English...

Brought to you by Penguin. THE EPIC NEW ADVENTURE FROM SUNDAY TIMES BESTELLER CONN IGGULDEN Can a slave . . . become a master? AD 37. The Roman Republic has become a true empire, stretching from Egypt to the seacoast of Gaul. Sixty million people live under its rule. A scribe in a noble...

Lionel Casson paints a vivid portrait of life in ancient Rome - for slaves and emperors, soldiers and commanders alike - during the empire's greatest period, the first and second centuries AD.

A novel in The L.A. Quartet. Internationally acclaimed author James Ellroy presents another literary noir masterpiece of historical paranoia. Los Angeles, 1958. Killings, beatings, bribes, shakedowns—it's standard procedure for Lieutenant Dave Klein, LAPD. He's a slumlord, a bagman, an...

Ten years after the eruption of Vesuvius, the surrounding countryside lies buried and barren. But the destroyed cities and luxury villas on the Bay of Naples are not utterly lost. Flavia Albia and her husband Tiberius Manlius are tasked with restoring one villa and identifying any surviving...

For five hundred years, Europe's greatest artists kept returning to the same scene — and most of them did not paint what you would expect. When Giambologna finished his famous marble group in Florence in 1583 — three figures spiraling out of a single flawed block — it had no title. He had carved it to prove a technical point. The subject was chosen by committee afterward: the Sabine women. And that is the pattern, not the exception. Poussin painted the episode twice. Rubens painted it. Jacques-Louis David gave it a canvas fourteen feet wide. Degas copied it as a student exercise. ...

Fully edited July 2025 Stolen gold, a dead priest and a mystery fit for the gods Rome’s treasures are gone and a priest lies dead within the burned-out shell of the Temple of Vulcan. Did he die a hero protecting the riches stored at the temple as everyone says or is there a more sinister reason for his death? Facing financial ruin if he cannot find the missing gold and silver, Secundus makes enemies of Rome’s rich and powerful as he grapples with hostile priests, corrupt patricians and a mystery which seems to hold no clues. From the depths of the fire comes hope as a potential new home...

It's AD 123, and the sun is shining on southern Gaul. Ex-military medic Ruso and his British wife, Tilla, are back after a long absence - but it's not the reunion anyone had hoped for. Ruso's brother has left him in charge of a farm he has no idea how to manage, a chronic debt problem, and a gaggle of accident-prone small children. Meanwhile his sister Flora has run away to rescue her boyfriend, who's accused of murdering a wealthy guest at a party.  

"Let me tell you how I died."A spate of murders in Rome's libraries turns a rare book expert (and ex-con) into a reluctant detective and sends him on the trail of the legendary Bibliotheca Æterna – an ancient library hiding 3500 years of secret knowledge and the key to immortality. If only the mafia and the Vatican weren't also hell-bent on finding it...

What if history's greatest murders were investigated like modern cold cases? Forget the legends. Forget the myths. Forget everything you think you know. In Cold Case Files, forensic criminologist and criminal profiler [Author Name] reopens eight of history's most famous killings using the same behavioral analysis, victimology, investigative psychology, and criminal profiling techniques applied to modern homicide investigations. Each chapter is presented as an authentic investigative case file, complete with: Crime Scene Reconstruction Victimology Suspect Analysis Behavioral Profiling ...

From the creator of Falco comes Falco: the new generation, featuring her unforgettable heroine Flavia Albia in her sixth novel. Flavia Albia is a private investigator, always drawn to an intriguing puzzle - even if it is put to her by her new husband's hostile ex-wife. On the Quirinal Hill...

Full edit July 2025 A body in a ditch; a love unrequited; a rift between families: there’s been a murder in Ancient Rome. Immerse yourself in the city of Rome 400 years before the birth of Caesar at a time when there were no rules, no law beyond the voice of the richest man, and at a time when the gods ruled the lives of every citizen of the newly formed Roman Republic! For Secundus, son of the high priest of the temple of Jupiter, his life was a mess. Until he found her - and then it got WORSE!!! Forced into investigating the death of a woman he stumbles into following a night of ...

Edited September 2025 Theft, murder, deception and the threat of war! Another day in Ancient Rome During the Festival of Consualia, a precious staff of office and the King's beloved racehorse are stolen. TO add to the confusion a Sabine guard is killed and the Roman soldier who was his counterpart goes missing. The situation becomes even more complicated when the family of our hero, Secundus, comes under suspicion, and he and his sidekick Graccus are banned from the investigation. Determined to prove their innocence and solve the crime, Secundus and Graccus set out to retrieve the stolen ...

Cults, Secrets, Deception, Murder — In The Case of Luna, Darkness Hides More Than You Can Imagine. Beneath the moonlit gaze of the goddess Luna, a lifeless wife is carried by desperate hands. Gripped by memory loss, a husband seeks help from Secundus and Graccus, to peel back the layers of the enigmatic Cult of Luna in this chilling sixth installment of the series. With time slipping through their fingers and his priestly examinations looming, Secundus wrestles with a mounting burden of duties and the continued presence of his overbearing father and ex-centurion Scavolo in their ...

Updated August 2025 A hanged man, an estranged son, an angry business partner and a scramble for the dead man's estate. A brutal attack on a rich slave-trader triggers a chain of events leading to his apparent suicide at the Festival of Liber. As the dead man's wife, son and business partner all claim ownership of his estate Secundus is thrown once more into an investigation he doesn't want to undertake. As the clues begin to unravel Scavolo takes over the case and Secundus finds himself reassigned to a probe into corruption at a sister temple. Angry at Scavolo for his interference and ...