- Hardcover: 275 pages
- Publisher: Minotaur Books; First Edition edition (Oct 13 1999)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0312205821
- ISBN-13: 978-0312205829
- Product Dimensions: 21.7 x 14.9 x 2.7 cm
- Shipping Weight: 472 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #2,125,911 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Sporting an anachronistic, decidedly modern-day sensibility, the Roman senator Decius Caecilius Metellus the Younger returns to his native Rome from Rhodes at a time when Julius Caesar is beginning his rise to power. Worldly and a bit of a playboy, the prodigal son has been recalled by his family to investigate the death by poisoning of Celer, a wealthy and influential relative. The dead man's wife, Clodia, flaunts most conventional notions of common decency and is clearly capable of murder. She has also been spotted cavorting with witches during the wild Saturnalia celebrations, which are rumored to include a human sacrifice. Decius's father is convinced Clodia is the killer. But her brother, Clodius, an implacable political rival of the Metellus clan, also asks Decius to investigate. He's convinced his sister is innocentAof this crime at least. Decius must balance his devotion to the truth with his family loyalty and pick his way gingerly through the dangerous political intrigues of imperial Rome. Roberts (SPQR IV: The Temple of the Muses, etc.) unleashes a barrage of plots and personalities as he re-creates the lavishness of patrician Roman life. The plot is less engrossing than the setting, but the treacherous atmosphere lingers, as does the wily, if decent Decius. (Nov.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
In ancient Rome, they celebrated the winter solstice with boozing, brawling, and similar manifestations of indecorous behaviorthe Saturnalia. What more fitting time, then, for that party animal Decius Caecilius Metellus the Younger to return from exile in Rhodesia where his disapproving family parked him to keep him harmless? A situation has arisen tailor-made for his special talents, Decius being a gifted snoop. In general, snooping was not regarded with warmth by Roman aristocracy, but circumstances do alter cases. For good and sufficient reasons, the Metellus family views the Lady Clodia as a dangerous political enemy, and if it can be demonstrated that she willfully and with malice aforethought poisoned her husband (Decius' kinsman), permanent exile would result forthwith. That's your job, the family paterfamilias tells Decius in no uncertan terms. But Lady Clodia is the sister of Tribune Clodius, next to Julius Caesar the most powerful figure in Rome. Your job is to prove Clodia innocent, Clodius tells Decius, in terms equally unequivocal, leaving Decius to fill in the scary blanks. Needless to say Decius successfully charts a course between Scylla and Charybdis, thus serving justice, fulfilling family obligations, and saving his precious skin. He also does some whooping it up along the way. Too talky, too thinly plotted, and Decius is a charmless rake for whom it's hard to work up much empathy. This out of print series is being republished, St. Martin's says, in response to popular appeal. But Steven Saylor does ancient Rome better, and Roberts does better with his Gabe Treloar series (Desperate Highways, 1997, etc.). -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
I SET FOOT IN ITALY ONCE MORE on a filthy day in December. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
I SET FOOT IN ITALY ONCE MORE on a filthy day in December. Read the first page
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Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Murder, Mayhem, and Scandal in Ancient Rome,
By
This review is from: SPQR V: Saturnalia (Hardcover)
... I had just read the Steven Saylor "Roma Sub Rosa" series, featuring the lovably human Gordianus the Finder, so I felt a bit disloyal even picking up a Maddox Roberts book, but, WOW! am I glad I did. Roberts writes with effortless skill, a keen understanding of complex Roman politics and social hierarchies, and, best of all, a delicious sense of mystery. SATURNALIA, is a wicked tale of murder and adultery, set against the twilight of Rome's Republic. The scandalous Clodia is accused of poisoning her husband (all of this is based on historical events), and Maddox Roberts takes the opportunity to explore some of Rome's darker sides in the process. Roberts' hero - a Junior Senator with the unwieldy name of Decius Caecilius Metellus - is a wonder: patrician by birth, he is able to walk with equal confidence in marble halls, and the stinkiest streets of the Subura. I highly recommend not only SATURNALIA, but all the other novels in the SPQR series. You'll fall in love with Decius, and discover sides to ancient Rome you never knew existed.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another great book from Roberts,
By "renegate" (Lancaster UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: SPQR V: Saturnalia (Hardcover)
The fifth nover of the SPQR series is as good as all the others. Roberts using the same technique and the same elements that made all the other books of the series so popular. And guess what Decius is back to Rome.
5.0 out of 5 stars
great comic mystery,
By
This review is from: SPQR V: Saturnalia (Hardcover)
I have read all of the books in this series, and they are really great. The interpretations of historical characters are entertaining, the hero is very funny, the plots are interesting. Please write more!
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