The Venus Throw: A Mystery of Ancient Rome (Novels of Ancient Rome)

On a chill January evening in 56 B.C., two strange visitors to Romean Egyptian ambassador and a eunuch priestseek out Gordianus the Finder whose specialty is solving murders, but the ambassador, a philosopher named Dio, has come to ask for something Gordianus cannot givehelp in staying alive. Before the night is out, he will be murdered. Now Gordianus begins his most dangerous case. Hired to investigate Dio's death by a beautiful woman with a scandalous reputation, he will follow a trail of political intrigue into the highest circles of power and the city's most hidden arenas of debauchery. There Gordianus will learn nothing is as it seemsnot the damning evidence he uncovers, not the suspect he sends to trial, not even the real truth behind Dio's death which lies in secretsnot of state, but of the heart. In ancient Rome, Gordianus-the-Finder investigates the murder of Dio, an Egyptian envoy who came to Rome to protest the rule of the Egyptian king. For Gordianus the case is a personal matter, Dio having been his teacher of philosophy back in Alexandria. Unable to prevent the murder of an Egyptian ambassador who had sought his help, Roman murder-solving specialist Gordianus begins his most dangerous case within the city's highest circles of powers and hidden areas of debauchery. Reprint.