Ancient Thriller Mysteries

Britannia 43AD. The last unconquered stronghold of the Celts and a land of gold and slaves. A dangerous place of men without fear, led by mystical Druid warriors, yet still to face the might of Rome in the unrelenting expansion of the empire. Four Roman legions have assembled in Gaul undertaking final preparations for the invasion of Britannia. Two young men are posted to a training cohort under the sadistic tutorage of a battle scarred veteran, Remus. The training is brutal, but eventually the trainees find themselves involved in their first campaign. The invasion of Britannia.

In the first century, under Domitian's reign, strange and brutal goings on are nothing new in Rome. Flavia Albia, daughter of Marcus Didius Falco, has taken over her father's business as a private informer but she tries to shy away from the brutal, the complicated, and the political—because nothing good comes of any of them. Unfortunately, she's not very good at turning them down. This time a commission shows up on her doorstep—someone is staging brutal murders in some of the most beautiful buildings in Rome, each staging different.

It is the Olympics of 460 BC. Nico's best friend, Timodemus, is a competitor in the pankration, the deadly martial art of ancient Greece. Timo is the hot favorite to win. His only serious rival is Parmonos, from Sparta. When Parmonos is found beaten to death, it is obvious Timodemus must be the killer. The Judges of the Games sentence Timodemus to be executed in four days' time. Complicating everything is the fact that Athens and Sparta are already at each other's throats. If an Athenian is found to have cheated by murdering a Spartan, it will be everything the hawks in Sparta need to declare open war.

It is 1066 and the Saxon leadership lie dead at Senlac Hill. Only Aelfraed and his northern rebels hold out against the Norman war machine. Fighting treachery as well as Normans Aelfraed and his warriors bravely take the fight to the Normans. Forced to become outlaws they fight a rearguard action from the northern forests until William relentlessly hunts them down.

In A Gladiator Dies Only Once, the second collection of his award-winning stories featuring Gordianus, Saylor more than meets his own high standards. Set between the events of his novels RomanBlood and Catilina’s Riddle, these nine stories of previously untold adventures from the early career of Gordianus - when his adopted son, Eco, was still a mute boy and his wife, Bethesda, was but his slave - will delight Saylor’s many fans while illuminating details of the ancient world like no other writer can.

In the sacred grove of Julius Caesar, something deadly stirs in the undergrowth - a serial killer, who haunted the gardens for years, has claimed another victim - in Lindsey Davis' next historical mystery, The Grove of the Caesars. At the feet of her adoptive father, renowned private informer Marcus Didius Falco, Flavia Albia learned a number of important rules. First and foremost - always keep one's distance from the palace, nothing good comes from that direction. But right behind it - murder is the business of the Vigiles, best to leave them to it.

The year is 63 BC, and Gordianus the Finder unexpectedly achieves the dream of every Roman: owning a farm in the Etruscan countryside. Vowing to leave behind the corruption of Rome, he abandons the city, taking his family with him. This bucolic life, however, is disrupted by the machinations and murderous plots of two politicians.

Fidelma of Cashel - sister to the king of Muman, a religieuse of the Celtic Church, and an advocate of the Brehon courts - returns in this new collection of fifteen tales. These stories of murder, mayhem, and mystery are not merely spellbinders but also provide insight into the ways and mores of the complex, fascinating society of seventh-century Ireland as well as heretofore unrevealed background details of Fidelma herself.

In December of 666 A.D., Fidelma of Cashel and her companion Brother Eadulf, having completed their business with the Archbishop of Canterbury, make one final journey before returning to Ireland. At the insistence of Brother Botulf, a childhood friend of Eadulf, they detour from their trip to Eadulf's home village and make their way to Aldred's Abbey. Arriving at midnight on the night of the old pagan festival of Yule, as requested, they find Botulf's dead body - his head caved in by a blunt instrument.

In A.D. 670, an Irish merchant ship is attacked by a pirate vessel off the southern coast of the Breton peninsula. Merchad, the ship's captain, and Bressal, a prince from the Irish kingdom of Muman, are killed in cold blood after they have surrendered. Among the other passengers who manage to escape the slaughter are Fidelma of Cashel and her faithful companion, Brother Eadulf.

My FBI Investigation of conspiracy leads me into immortal romance and through a terrifying ancient magic discovery. Assigned to Mayor Alexie, I realize he, the Sheriff and Coroner are hiding crime details about the murders. Saved from an attack by Alexie, he discloses he is a vampire, and others in town are the same. What the hell, they don’t train us for that at Quantico. I seem drawn to him like a moth to a flame. He is captivating, and irresistible. The electricity flowing through my veins when near him is unbearable. My investigation morphs into romance with a bad boy, arrogant, ...

When young Telemachus gets the chance to join the crew of the merchant ship Selene, he's delighted to escape the rough streets of Piraeus. He knows little of the dangers of life at sea. And even past hardship has not prepared him for the terror on board when a pirate ship appears on the horizon. The fight is bloody, but the result is never in doubt. Then the victorious pirate chief, Bulla, offers the beaten men a cruel choice: join us, or die.

The shadows of the past come alive. After twenty years of silence, Dina returns, driven by an insatiable hunger for power and revenge. Her eyes are fixed on the legendary scarab, the key to an ancient power that can reduce the world to ashes. Lillian and Roy Sawyer are the only ones who know Dina's true intentions. But as the swinging sixties are in full swing, Dina's next move remains a mystery. Will they uncover her plans before it's too late, or will Dina finally triumph and plunge the world into a new era of darkness?

Winter, 670 AD. King Colg has invited the leading nobles and chieftains of his kingdom to a feast day. Fidelma and her companion Eadulf are finally home for an extended stay, and have promised their son, Alch, that they'll be able to spend some time together after months of being on the road, investigating crimes. Fidelma and Eadulf are enjoying the feast when it is interrupted by the entrance of a religieux, who claims he has an important message for the King.

In Egypt during the late Roman Republic, the young Gordianus finds himself involved in a raid to steal the golden Sarcophagus of Alexander the Great....

Dr. Francesca "Frankie" DeMarco, a beautiful Italian archaeologist, is searching an underwater site on the Adriatic Coast of Italy. Chasing stories of a mysterious group of Guardians, she runs into roadblocks. Someone is trying to keep her from discovering the truth. To unlock the mystery of the Guardians, Frankie and Mike Scott have to overcome a group of delusional fanatics. If they are successful, they might just find a religious artifact lost when the Romans overran the Temple in Jerusalem: the Breastplate of Judgement, worn by the Jewish high priest when he went before the Ark of the ...

A perplexing case of murder and conspiracy in the pagan wilds of Northern Italy... In AD 664, just after the events detailed in Shroud for the Archbishop, Fidelma of Cashel takes a unexpected detour on her trip home from Rome. While in the port at Genua (modern-day Genoa), Fidelma - sister of one Ireland’s kings and an advocate in her country’s law courts - receives word that one of her old teachers, Brother Ruadan, is reaching the end of his days.

Four novella-length stories written to illuminate Lindsey Davis's unparalleled output of the last 30 years, with an introduction written and narrated by the author.

Penn Mitchell vanishes from the NYU campus and shows up three months later on his mother's doorstep with a book screaming to get out of his head. When the FBI discovers the novel discloses top-secret information, they bring Penn in for questioning. The interrogation goes sideways and Penn escapes into a subterranean world he thought was a figment of his imagination, a world where the US government is hiding, and at war with, an ancient race that has existed since the dawn of time.

Rome, 58 AD. Aemilius Valerius is on the up and up. His reputation has been rehabilitated, he has established a fledgling career, and he has new friends in very powerful places. When one of those new friends, the poet Lucan, is attacked, Valerius is given an offer he can’t refuse: find the culprits before they strike again. But when every man in Lucan’s circle of poets and playwrights and artists is potentially a suspect, each one of them competing for the emperor’s favor, how is Valerius supposed to tell the difference between petty jealousy and murderous rage?