ANCIENT TIMES - FICTION
"Catalina's Riddle" 
By Steven Saylor
This is the third book of the ambitious series centered on a private investigator, Gordianus the Finder, in Ancient Rome.
It is ten years after the Spartacan Slave Revolt and
Gordianus has moved to the country on a nice farm inherited from a dead friend.
The trouble is, all his neighbors are relatives of the deceased and hate
Gordianus, since they think he is a peasant and they should have inherited the
property. Dead headless bodies keep appearing at strange places and Gordianus is
at a loss as to where they are coming from and even more puzzling is who is
sending them. His old, but now estranged, friend Cicero is now one of the
Consuls of Rome and he sees a conspiracy under every bed and he is out to get
Catalina. Catalina is a radical who has once been defeated running for consul
and is running again and Cicero will stop at nothing to prevent his winning.
Catalina has the backing of the common people and the old veterans of Sulla,
thus he has the power to cause trouble and also to raise an army to challenge
Rome. But Cicero is playing many games and drags Gordianus into the middle by
coercing him into letting Catalina stay at his farm. The whole thing is a mess
and the existence of the republic is at stake. What a mess Gordianus has gotten
himself and his family into! Throw in Marcus Crassus and a young Julius Caesar and things are very interesting.
Reviewed by Kenneth S. Smith 7/6/2000
Available from:
Ivy Books
Published by Ballentine Books
A Division of Random House
http://www.randomhouse.com
