SPQR series
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The SPQR series is a collection of detective stories by John Maddox Roberts set in the time of the Roman Republic. SPQR (the original title of the first book, until the sequels came out) is a Latin acronym for "Senatus Populusque Romanus" ("the Roman Senate and People"), the official name of the Republic.
The stories are told in first-person form by Senator Decius Caecilius Metellus the Younger (born 95 BC, "the same year as Cato"), nephew of Metellus Pius and member of an important family of the Roman Senate. The stories are told in flashback-form by the old Decius, writing during the reign of Augustus Caesar. The stories range from 70 BC (The King's Gambit) to 22 BC ("The King of Sacrifices").
Decius' companions include his slaves Cato, Cassandra, and Hermes; his friends, the Greek gladiatoral physician Asklepiodes and the gangster/politician Titus Annius Milo; and his staunch enemies, the siblings Clodia and Clodius. Along the way, he is often helped by his father, as well as by Cicero and a young Julius Caesar. In later books, Decius is betrothed and then married to the (fictional) niece of Caesar, Julia Caesaris. The dates are all listed at the end of each book in the ab urbe condita calendar system.
The series includes (in chronological order):
- I: The King's Gambit (70 BC) — Decius uncovers a plot to subvert Lucullus' army in the war against Mithridates. ISBN 0312277059
- II: The Catiline Conspiracy (63–62 BC) — Decius uncovers Catiline's plot to overthrow the Republic. ISBN 0312277067
- III: The Sacrilige (62 BC) — Decius investigates Clodius' desecration of the Bona Dea rites. ISBN 0312246978
- IV: The Temple of the Muses (60 BC) — Decius investigates the murder of a philosopher at the Library of Alexandria. ISBN 0312246986
- "The Statuette of Rhodes" (60 BC) (short story in Classical Whodunnits 1996 edited by Mike Ashley) — Decius finds a corpse on the base of the Colossus of Rhodes. ISBN 0786704187
- V: Saturnalia (59 BC) — Decius investigates the murder of his kinsman Metellus Celer. ISBN 0312320183
- VI: Nobody Loves a Centurion (58 BC) — Decius investigates the murder of a centurion of the 10th Legion at the start of the Gallic Wars. ISBN 0312320191
- VII: The Tribune's Curse (55 BC) — Decius investigates the murder of a tribune who curses Crassus on his way to Parthia. ISBN 0312304889
- "Mightier Than the Sword" (short story in The Mammoth Book of Historical Whodunnits 1993 edited by Mike Ashley) — Newly-elected Aedile Decius Caecilius Metellus finds himself diverted from duty when he stumbles across a corpse. ISBN 1841193739
- VIII: The River God's Vengeance (52 BC) — Decius investigates a collapsed insula, uncovering systematic fraud in the construction trade. ISBN 0312323190
- IX: The Princess and the Pirates (50 BC) — Decius investigates the murder of his host, the Roman governor of Cyprus, while on the island to deal with an upsurge in piracy. ISBN 031233723X
- "The Etruscan House" (short story in Crime Through Time II 1998 collected by Miriam Grace Monfredo & Sharan Newman) — Decius' investigates a senator's murder. ISBN 0425164101
- X: A Point of Law — English publication due in May of 2006 (ISBN 0312337256), published in German translation in 2000 as Im Namen Caesars. ISBN 3442445175 While running for election to the office of praetor, Decius must deal with accusations that he murdered a man who had threatened to denounce him for actions he took while on Cyprus the previous year.
- "Venus in Pearls" (45 BC) (short story Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine July/August 2001 p36) — Caesar hires Decius to locate his stolen breastplate before his Pompeian triumph
- "The Will" (44 BC) (short story The Mammoth Book of Roman Whodunnits 2003 edited by Mike Ashley) — Decius investigates Caesar's will following his assassination. ISBN 0786712414
- XI: Under Vesuvius — currently unpublished in English, published in 2001 in German translation as Mord am Vesuv. ISBN 3442447739
- XII: Oracle of Death — currently unpublished in English, published in October 2005 in German translation as Das Orakel des Todes. ISBN 3442456851
- XIII: The Year of Confusion — currently unpublished.
- "The King of Sacrifices" (22 BC) (short story in The Mammoth Book of Historical Detectives 1995 edited by Mike Ashley) — Livia hires Decius to investigate the murder of Julia's lover. ISBN 0786702141
- "An Academic Question" (short story in Past Poisons 1998 edited by Maxim Jakubowski). ISBN 0747275017
- "The Mountain Wolves" (short story in Classical Stories: Heroic Tales from Ancient Greece and Rome 1996 edited by Mike Ashley). ISBN 1854878123
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