Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

This is the second in a series of books featuring Pliny the Younger and his friend, the historian Tacitus. This series differs from other Roman mystery series, such as those by Davis, Saylor, and Roberts, in using historical persons as the main characters. The first book, All Roads Lead to Murder, was set as Pliny and Tacitus were travelling. Now they're back in Rome and have been asked by the emperor Domitian to find out if there are any living relatives of Nero who might make a claim on Domitian's throne. They soon realize that Domitian is using them like hounds on a hunt. If they do find a descendant of Nero, they will have to protect him/her from Domitian.
The historical details have been painstakingly researched but are not waved under the reader's nose. One can feel and smell ancient Rome. The attitudes of the characters toward issues such as slavery and women's status are true to the time and yet one can see that Pliny is thinking about those issues. This series has far more substance than Davis' Falco series and is as well-written as Saylor's or Roberts' series.

Library Journal named this a best mystery of the year it was published and I totally agree. Not only is the historical research first rate, the mystery is convoluted and well done.

The Amazon customer reviews of this book and "All Roads Lead To Murder", Albert Bell jr.'s first Pliny and Tacitus adventures are solid endorsements for this author. My comments are more of an evaluation of the author. Mr. Bell has shown his creativity by picking two less known but exemplary historic figures from history, Pliny the Younger, a lawyer, author and magistrate and Cornelius Tacitus a senator and historian of the Roman Empire and placed them in two mysteries as young men in their early 20's. They are uniquely different and yet their skills complement each other and they create an enjoyable "buddy" ambience for the books somewhat like what HBO did with Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo in their TV series "Rome." Mr. Bell creates an historic setting that fits neatly into the recorded history of the period without the the factual distraction that other writers sucumb to. Mr. Bell is a very good story teller and he weaves a warm cozy and personal environment to envelop the reader. I have no reservation in placing his work right up there with my other period authors i.e., S. Saylor, R. Rowe, L. Davis, R. Harris, and P. B. Kerr's Bernie Gunther series. I look forward to his future works in this series with considerable anticipation.

It should be a bad thing when an author leads by telling you how hard it was to write his book, in this case the second in a series. Is it going to be equally hard to read?? Definitely not in this case. Bell's interests and mine just "clicked" in this novel.

This quasi-historical novel goes right to the top of my list of Classic Roman mysteries. Not because it is so mysterious--the mystery is pretty simple, one you'll solve long before sleuth Pliny does--but it absolutely hits my sweet spot of mystery-character-historical setting. While not as profound as Saylor, or forcedly funny as Davis, I found a fuller immersion in Roman customs without ever being lectured at. Roman mores are just normal parts of daily affairs here, just natural observations on the passing flow of events as people enter or leave, or stroll through the Forum or ride the countryside. There are no snide, 21st century, authorial animadversions here. The characters are diverse, often historical (once real), and well contrasted. In the early going, Pliny the Younger (who is actually famous for his meticulous description of the eruption of Vesuvius) has flashes of forensic insight gained from his scientific father, to impress the fearful emperor Domitian. That sleuthing goes by the roadside as the naive young Pliny becomes personally enmeshed in the plotting over a possible pretender to the throne, and rescues a charming young lady as a complication (or romance?), but central to the plot as well. The story felt palpable, easy to visualize from the minor details strategically scattered about, and, uniquely, from the appropriate, small illustrations cut in on many pages. From solving an imperial genealogical mystery, the story transforms into the question, how will Pliny save his neck and his family from Domitian's sword? The ending is a bit of a sad shock, something the author must have thought necessary for historical plausibility.

Despite a slightly cheesy title, Albert Ball's mystery novel of First Century AD Rome, has a well-constructed plot and substantive characters enough to please most readers of this genre. The story is set in the reign of the Roman emperor Domitian - circa 83 AD - and revolves around the possibility that a blood heir of Julius and Augustus Caesar has eluded a generation of attempts by several later emperors to eliminate vestiges of the Julian line. Hence the "blood of Caesar" in the title.

Author Ball has chosen as his protagonist/sleuth, Gaius Pliny, adopted son of the great Roman historian/chronicler Pliny the Elder. Gaius Pliny has an intellect worthy of his illustrious adopted father and has established a reputation in an overseas assignment for the Flavian emperors as a detective of some note. This brings him into the service of the Emperor Domitian who has an increasingly questionable task for him to complete.

"Blood of Caesar" is well-researched and gives the reader not only a good plot to follow, but also a credible account of life in Rome at the end of the First Century. The book meets the standards of Maddox Brown and Saylor, if not Lindsey Davis.

As a person fascinated with ancient history I read quite a lot of historical fiction as well as non-fiction. Having gone through the series by the better known authors: Steven Saylor,Lindsey Davis,John Roberts Maddox, Robert Harris,Rosemary Rowe, Simon Scarrow and some others like Ben Pastor, Gillian Bradshaw and David Wishart, I eagerly picked up this mystery story set in the time of the Emperor Domitianon. His family were the first imperials NOT to have descent from the first Emperor (I know they weren't using that term yet, but for simplicity....) the so-called "First Citizen" Octavian Augustus, grand-nephew and heir of Julius Caesar. Domitian's father, General Vespasian, had taken over control of the empire as generals sometimes do; and his unstable younger son Domitian became emperor after his father and brother.

The author takes two real historical personages, Pliny the Younger and the future historian Tacitus and uses them as his lead characters, (especially Pliny the Younger). They are asked, on the basis of the mystery solved in Mr Bell's first book, to look into the possibility of any existing persons descended from the Augustan/ Caesar family. Domitian, of course, would find such people to be dangerous rivals and have them killed. (Its actually more convoluted than that, at first they are not sure what they are being asked to do...and neither are we. The reality of the situation comes later.)

At first I was quite interested, and expected a good story and mystery with a believable historical background.




NOTE: some SPOILERS: stop here if you haven't read it and plan to:

THEN....more and more odd and unbelievable coincidences occur. People who are frankly unbelievable appear in the story....mainly, a young country girl with a mysterious past and an odd physical abnormality....from the moment she is brought into the story it goes downhill in credibility and interest.


The young woman's very existance, let alone being the ward of a friend of Pliny's (though he'd never heard of her before) strains credibility. The unbelievable continues as Domitian himself comes out to a remote country spot with only a small bodyguard and is OF COURSE immediately captured and forced to do what the "good guys" want him to do....It became very fast a story full of holes, inconsistancies and absolutely unbelievable coincidences that anyone could see coming---and where they were leading---from the time they were introduced. One point: the young lady mentioned above changes her personality entirely two or three times in a period of a few weeks...innocent country girl who doesn't want to leave her boyfriend....strong-willed heroine who teases and flirts with Pliny... a sophisticated city woman who totally rejects the beforesaid boyfriend after only a short time away from him....then eventually a girl who can grab a sword off the ground and fight armed, trained men with it....oh, and she is the last person in the world who can fluently read ancient Etruscan, which she picked up by seeing old Etruscan words carved on bridges and statuary on her ward's country estate. Sort of like being able to fluently read Greek by spending a lot of time in a museum looking at the artifacts....but anyway.....

Then secret letters come to light which of course explain in a neat and tidy way (much like the old Hardy Boys mysteries) EXACTLY who is who. Why the person who wrote the letter (in Etruscan of course) WROTE it, therefore endangering the very person she claimed to love, is the only real mystery in the book.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


End of Spoiler's section:

Unlike some other reviewers I also didn't feel Mr Bell "got" the ancient mindset. I read the entire book, and wanted to like it...but could not possibly recommend it to anyone else. Read the authors mentioned above, any of them give more exciting and interesting stories of ancient Rome than this book does.

What does the Emperor care of the death of an insignificant? "The Blood of Caesar: A Second Case from the Notebooks of Pliny the Younger" is a mystery set in a place where mystery novels don't typically take place - the world of ancient Rome. With a thrilling story with layers going through all stages of Roman society, it grabs the reader and doesn't let go. "The Blood of Caesar: A Second Case from the Notebooks of Pliny the Younger" is a deftly written novel sure to please both historical fiction and mystery enthusiasts alike, and community library collections catering to both.