The Blood of Caesar: A Second Case from the Notebooks of Pliny the Younger [Paperback]

Albert A. Bell Jr. (Author)

Book Description

Series: Notebooks of Pliny the Younger | Publication Date: June 1, 2008

Pliny the Younger and Tacitus have another mystery to solve - actually layers of mysteries. During dinner at the emperor Domitian's palace, a workman is discovered dead in the archives. Why is this humble man's death important to the ruler of Rome? Domitian assigns Pliny to uncover references to an unknown heir of Augustus Caesar in a memoir of Nero's mother. Why does Domitian suspect his own copy of the memoir is incomplete? And how does his suspicion relate to the niece of Pliny's old friend and mentor? Is Tacitus' father-in-law Agricola a villain or a potential victim? Like a sinister red line slashed through a carefully prepared manuscript, the legacy of the great Augustus marks the connections to slaves of Pliny's own household. Pliny and Tacitus must descend to the Stygian underworld of Nero's buried "golden house" to find answers. Will the answers save the peace of Rome, or mark its doom?

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

<div>Albert Bell is a literary renaissance man. His published books include nonfiction, historical fiction, and mysteries. Bell discovered his love for writing in high school with his first publication in 1972. His articles and stories have appeared in publications from Jack and Jill and True Experience to the Detroit Free Press and Christian Century. Dr. Bell has taught at Hope College in Holland, Michigan since 1978 and has served as chair of the History Department since 1994. He has a Ph.D. from UNC-Chapel Hill, an M.A. from Duke and an M.Div. from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He has been married for over 40 years to Bettye Jo Barnes Bell, a psychologist; they have four children and a grandchild.</div>

Product Details

• Paperback: 260 pages
• Publisher: Ingalls Publishing Group (June 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932158820
• ISBN-13: 978-1932158823
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #570,163 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Characters in Ancient Rome, December 11, 2008

By 

J. Moran (Illinois, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Blood of Caesar: A Second Case from the Notebooks of Pliny the Younger (Paperback)

This well-written mystery/thriller is set in ancient Rome in the early reign of the Emperor Domitian, already a much feared, murderous and paranoid tyrant. Domitian "asks" Gaius Pliny to determine if any descendants of Julius Caesar's family might still be alive. If any such exist, they or their descendants would have a better blood claim to the throne than would Domitian himself or any of his line, and Domitian will certainly murder anyone with the "blood of Caesar" in his or her veins. Pliny knows this but refusing the assignment would put himself and his family in grave danger, and this he cannot risk. But equally he does not wish to be the cause of some innocent's death. This seemingly insoluble dilemma drives the fast-paced action down to the final twist.

Author Bell clearly is familiar not only with the physical details of first century CE Rome, but also with something much more difficult to master: The engrained, often unconscious, attitudes of those living in that culture. The characters in this book, for example, are oblivious of the institution of slavery (although obviously not of individual slaves). They simply make use of their slaves and manage them as if they were tools without any moral questions even arising. A "good" master was one who was kind and reasonable rather than otherwise. Similarly the characters are thoroughly (indeed, unthinkingly) accepting of the extremely hierarchical nature of Roman society, with its marked divisions of class, status and gender. Characters are just as conscious of what they are as of who they are.

This kind of skill is rarer than we like to think. In many historical novels the physical aspects of the culture are correct, but too often the mentality of the characters is modern, making them 21st century people who are inexplicably living in a distant time and place. This empties the past of what makes it the past: its innate strangeness, its deep difference from the reader's era. Bell does not make that mistake. This is a very good read.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Blood - Just OK, January 1, 2009

By 

Tweets (Washington DC) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Blood of Caesar: A Second Case from the Notebooks of Pliny the Younger (Paperback)

I recently purchased and read both books by Bell in this genre - "All Roads Lead To Murder" and "The Blood of Caesar." When an author apologizes for having writers' block for six years (first book out in 2002, second out in 2008), one can't help but notice the 'forced' nature of Blood. The Acknowledgements set a tone of 'this isn't my best, but here it is anyway' which is not what a reader wants to hear.

All Roads was a better read and Bell should probably steer away from a genre that is much better handled by other authors.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A well-written, intelligent mystery of early imperial Rome, March 9, 2009

By 

L. S. Jaszczak "servant of the secret fire" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Blood of Caesar: A Second Case from the Notebooks of Pliny the Younger (Paperback)

An invitation to dine alone with the princeps (the historically accurate title used by emperors of this period) Domitian is not necessarily a good thing, and Pliny the Younger's friend Tacitus tells him that an astrologer has predicted that it will change their lives forever. As it turns out, Domitian has heard about Pliny's powers of observation and talent for detection, honed at the feet of his uncle, the naturalist and polymath Pliny the Elder, and has a job for him.

Pliny is shown an old letter from Nero's mother to her son taunting him with the fact that other descendants of Augustus, who could be his rivals for power, still live. Domitian, as a representative of a family with no relationship to the Julian-Claudian line whatsoever, is even more concerned, and asks Pliny to ferret out the truth of the matter.

This is the second book in what promises to be an enjoyable, well-written series featuring the historical figures of Pliny the Younger and the historian Tacitus. Pliny soon finds out that the dead man he was shown by Domitian as a test of his deductive abilities not only did not die by accident as he was told, but has a connection to the mystery, as well as to his own family. He also must deal with the domestic issues that come with being the relatively new master of a large household, as well as his mother's increasingly close relationship to two of their Jewish slaves and her apparent interest in their religion.

The central mystery in THE BLOOD OF CAESAR is not a complicated one to unravel; rather, the enjoyment comes from the author's detailed picture of Roman life in the late first century and anticipation of how what seems like an impossible situation will be resolved. Since I've read about that time period, I'm somewhat familiar with the tortuous complexity of the Julian-Claudian family tree, so I'm not sure how clear it will be to those without such familiarity. There is a helpful glossary and timeline at the back, as well as numerous illustrations scattered throughout the book, but maybe a simplified family tree would also have come in handy.