The Triumph of Caesar: A Novel of Ancient Rome - Couverture rigide

Suspecting a plot against Julius Caesar, his wife Calpurnia calls on Gordianus the Finder to head it off.Now that he's resolved his Egyptian problems (The Judgment of Caesar, 2004), the Dictator of Rome has returned for four days of no-holds-barred festivals celebrating respectively his Gallic, Egyptian, Asian and African triumphs. Urged on by dire hints from her Etruscan soothsayer Porsenna and her agent Hieronymus, Calpurnia believes that someone is planning her husband's death. Her suspicions harden into certainty when Hieronymus is slain. Since Gordianus has been so successful for so long at finding the truth, she charges him to identify the ringleader Hieronymus was frightened to name even in his private notes. Mingling among a cast that includes the most illustrious people in the world - Julius Caesar, his grandnephew Octavius, his general Marc Antony, the defeated Gallic chief Vercingetorix, the Egyptian queen Cleopatra and her captive sister Arsinoe - Gordianus swiftly realizes that virtually everyone who's ever dealt with Caesar has sufficient grounds to wish him dead.Gordianus doesn't distinguish himself as a detective, and readers possessed of historical hindsight will easily eliminate most of the high-profile suspects. Still, no contemporary novelist approaches Saylor's continued ability to bring ancient Rome to life. --Kirkus Reviews

The new novel in the "Roma Sub Rosa" series is set against the background of Caesar's stupendous quadruple triumphs in Rome in 46 BC, full of colour and spectacle. Having obliterated the opposition, Caesar is now dictator for life. In the upcoming celebrations, "Vercingetorix the Gaul" is scheduled to be executed, as is Arsinoe, the sister of Cleopatra...and Cleopatra herself is in Rome on a state visit, trying to convince Caesar to acknowledge their son as his heir.Marc Antony and Caesar are at odds; Cicero is making a fool of himself with a new teenage bride; and Caesar's wife Calpurnia, having fallen under the spell of an Etruscan soothsayer, is convinced of a plot on her husband's life. Murder and intrigue again draw Gordianus into the vortex of history. Praise for Stephen Saylor: 'Saylor's gifts include authentic historical and topographical backgrounds and...sombre themes set off the brilliant scenery and clever plotting' - "Times Literary Supplement". 'Readers will find his work wonderfully (and gracefully) researched...this is entertainment of the first order' - "Washington Post". 'Saylor has acquired the information of a historian but he enjoys the gifts of a born novelist' - "Boston Globe".