A Gladiator Dies Only Once: The Further Investigations of Gordianus the Finder

Summary

Steven Saylor’s Roma Sub Rosa series, set in thelater Roman Republic and featuring Gordianus the Finder, has garnered unusualacclaim from readers and reviewers alike, establishing him as one of the preeminenthistorical mystery writers. In A Gladiator Dies Only Once, thesecond collection of his award-winning stories featuring Gordianus, Saylor morethan meets his own high standards. Set between the events of his novels RomanBlood and Catilina’s Riddle, these nine stories of previously untoldadventures from the early career of Gordianus—when his adopted son, Eco, wasstill a mute boy and his wife, Bethesda, was but his slave—will delight Saylor’smany fans while illuminating details of the ancient world like no other writercan.

Included are “The Consul’s Wife,” which involves a twisted search for truth behind athreatening blind item in the Acta Diurna. In “The White Fawn,” Gordianus mustdeal with a kidnapping and murder during the revolt of Sertorius. “Archimedes’Tomb” tells the story behind Cicero’s discovery of Archimedes’ tomb. Finally, “Ifa Cyclops Could Vanish in a Blink of an Eye” brings up a perplexing domesticsituation in Gordianus’ own home.