Ancient Thriller Mysteries

From the author of the “engrossing historical epic” (Booklist) The Scribe of Siena comes a thrilling tale set in the crumbling city of Mystras, Greece, in which a scientist’s vacation with her young son quickly turns into a fight for their lives after they cross paths with a man out of time.

In present-day Cambridge, Abi, a recently ordained priest of the Church of England, is appointed to a notoriously difficult parish. The priest in charge is the charismatic but fundamentalist Kier. He objects to her mysticism, her practice of healing in particular. When she sees a vision of a congregation in an old church, Kier accuses her of witchcraft, but Abi soon sees more visions; an entire Roman family history dark with betrayal and a promise of bloody revenge.

The countdown has begun. The Tenth Protocol has been activated, and the evacuation of the surface is about to begin. Millions of lives will be saved, but billions more will be lost. As the old world crumbles, there are some on the surface who seek to save those doomed to die a gruesome death. But are they willing to sacrifice themselves to achieve it?

Victory is in sight for Kivilaz and his Batavi army. The Roman army clings desperately to its remaining fortresses along the Rhine, its legions riven by dissent and mutiny, and once-loyal allies of Rome are beginning to imagine the unimaginable: freedom from the rulers who have dominated them since the time of Caesar. The four centurions - two Batavi and two Roman, men who were once comrades in arms - must find their destiny in a maze of loyalties and threats, as the blood tide of war ebbs and flows across Germania and Gaul.

Cabrillo, chasing the remnants of a crashed satellite in the Argentine jungle, stumbles upon a shocking revelation. His search to untangle the mystery leads him, first, to a small island and its secret, and then much farther back, to an ancient Chinese expedition - and a curse that seems to have survived for more than 500 years. If Cabrillo's team is successful in its quest, the reward could be incalculable. If not, the only reward is death.

Douglas Island sits off the coast of New York State, its imposing cliffs warning away visitors. Still, Finn Douglas has big plans for his inheritance and the rambling manor house that dominates the landscape. He has a vision to turn the island into a resort getaway for overworked city dwellers. But when the broken body of his business partner is found at the base of the rocky escarpment, he fears it wasn’t an accident.

It's AD 123, and the sun is shining on southern Gaul. Ex-military medic Ruso and his British wife, Tilla, are back after a long absence - but it's not the reunion anyone had hoped for. Ruso's brother has left him in charge of a farm he has no idea how to manage, a chronic debt problem, and a gaggle of accident-prone small children. Meanwhile his sister Flora has run away to rescue her boyfriend, who's accused of murdering a wealthy guest at a party.

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.

The old salt farmers have always said that the violet scent of the Fleur de Sel at harvest time on the salt marshes of the Guerande Peninsula has been known to cause hallucinations. Commissaire Dupin also starts to believe this when he's attacked out of the blue in the salt works. He had actually been looking forward to escaping his endless paperwork and taking a trip to the "white country" between the raging Atlantic Ocean and idyllic rivers.

It’s business as usual on the set of another cheap sword-and-sandal production by Pharos Pictures—until the lead actress suddenly falls into a deep, mysterious sleep. Jordan Harper can talk down high-strung starlets and knock sense into stuntmen, but this…this is the kind of uncanny problem that he’d usually bring to Mrs. Hope. Unfortunately, the preternaturally capable secretary is on a business trip with the studio head. Harper must get to the bottom of the mystery on his own before another cast member succumbs—or worse, they blow the budget.

In 48 BC the Roman generals Caesar and Pompey are engaged ina battle to rule the world. As Pompey plots a reckless stand on the banks ofthe Nile, Gordianus the Finder - who has brought his dying wife, Bethesda, to the Nile seeking a cure from its sacred waters - finds himself suddenly at the heart of a series of treacherous and history-altering events. While Caesar and Cleopatra embark on a legendary romance, Egypt remains ravaged by the brutal contest between the queen and her brother, King Ptolemy.

The Macedonian is based on the early life of Philip II, King of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great and perhaps the greatest military genius of the ancient world. Born a minor prince of the royal house, he survives the intrigues of a family in which treachery and murder are almost a tradition. A brilliant commander while still in his teens, he becomes king when his brother, King Perdikkas, and half the Macedonian army are massacred and his country is on the brink of ruin.

936 AD. Brittany is torn apart by war. Many nobles have sought refuge in King aethelstan's England, including Louis, prospective king of Francia. Einar and the Wolf Coats, disillusioned by events in Norway, are also at aethelstan's court. When Louis decides to take up his throne, aethelstan sees a way to make a crucial ally: a powerful noble whose support Louis needs. And aethelstan has just the men he needs to carry his message... and undertake a secret mission.The Wolf Coats' quest is fraught with danger and foreboding, for the world is changing.

From the author of Caligula comes a new stand-alone novel in the Damned Emperors series: Commodus. AD 162. Rome is enjoying a period of stability and prosperity. The Empire's bounds are increasing, and two sons are born into the imperial succession for the first time in nearly a century. But all is not as it appears - cracks are beginning to show. The wars have rumbled on too long, and there are whispers of a sickness in the East. Just 30 years later, the Empire will be caught up in civil war, the imperial dynasty ended and Rome burned.

Alexander's epic quest continues. In a seemingly impossible venture, Alexander and his men storm Persian fortresses and harbours, crippling King Darius' domination of land and sea. Even the legendary Halicarnassus is defeated by the Macedinoan armies. Ruthlessly, Alexander's war machine moves ever onward taking him up into the snow-covered Anatolian highlands, and ever closer to his destiny.

Historians Cameron Thorne and Amanda Spencer-Gunn discover a fourteenth-century journal which confirms a long-rumored historical heresy: The medieval Church outlawed the Knights Templar because the warrior monks were secretly worshiping the ancient Goddess. The journal also sucks Cam and Amanda into the orbit of a ruthless cabal of modern-day pagans intent on pushing America into the loving arms of the Goddess—whether America wants succor there or not.

Rome, 58 AD. The dinner party didn’t turn out the way Aemilius Valerius expected. He didn’t expect a place at the main table. He didn’t expect to drink that much. He didn’t expect to hook up with one of the scarier dancers. And he most certainly didn’t expect to trip over the bloody corpse of his host on the floor of the informal dining room. One man’s grisly murder is another man’s opportunity. Valerius teams up with the investigator, a plebeian with a chip on his shoulder, to discover the killer.

The year is 79 A.D. The place is Ostia, the port of Rome. Flavia Gemina, a Roman sea captain's daughter, is about to embark on a thrilling adventure.

Charlie and Thomas Begay find themselves caught up in a dangerous, intrigue-filled adventure involving one of the canyon lands' oldest riddles. Dark secrets are revealed in this fast-paced mystery of a forgotten people.

USA Today hails Steven Saylor as a “modern master of historical fiction.” Rich in intrigue and period detail, his novels set in ancient Rome have garnered acclaim the world over. A prequel to his epic Roma Sub Rosa series, The Seven Wonders follows series star Gordianus the Finder as an 18-year-old traveling the Mediterranean to witness the wonders of that fabled age. At each stop, the young investigator finds a beguiling mystery that pushes his powers of deduction to the limit.