Customer Reviews

A Gladiator Dies Only Once: the Further Investigations of Gordianus the Finder

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am definitely a fan of Steven Saylor's "Gordianus the Finder" tales, set in the First Century BCE, during the last decades of the Roman Republic. The present volume is a collection of short stories set fairly early in Goridanus's career, some decades before the more recent novels in the series. But like the novels, these short stories are filled with strong, memorable characters and genuine historial incident.

I rate Saylor as quite probably the best "historical mystery" working today; his books always provide new insights into Ancient Roman life and society. The stories in this volume wwuld be a good introduction to the more complex and subtle novels in Saylor's "Roma Sub Rosa" series, enjoyable in themselves but also illuminating the characters inhabiting the novels.

Saylor's second release of Gordianus short stories are as delightful as those in the `House of Vestals'. In chronological order he opens with The Consul's wife, a quick story of newspaper cryptic messages and a paranoid consul with a beautiful and independent young wife who's not adverse to backing a quick sesterce at the races. Swiftly narrated and demonstrative of Gordianus' quick eye and intelligent lateral thinking our super sleuth solves this case carelessly in a matter of hours and takes his fee. The second `If a Cyclops Could Vanish in the Blink of an Eye' is the shortest of the nine and is Bethseda's only real mention during this feline crime. `The White Fawn' has Gordianus scampering west to Spain to meet up with the renegade general Sertorius in order to chase down Mamercus Claudius, a hot-headed youth who has joined up with him against his grandfather's wishes. Gordianus gets dragged into a search for a white fawn that is acting as Sertorius' soothsayer. This story has a darker ending with our first murder of an innocent.

`Something Fishy in Pompeii' appeals to our palatable readers with its focus on industrial espionage over a missing batch of finest garum whilst `Archimedes Tomb' neatly combines the pomposity of Cicero in Syracuse with the infamous `Eureka' and the bath. Here, Gordianus is called upon to solve another murder after a Trimalchio-esque dinner between the merchant men Agathinus and Dorotheus with their pet poet, Margero. Here we find a reference to Tiro and Eco is also along for the ride.

`Death by Eros' deals with unrequited love in a gymnasium as the overly beautiful Cleon is found at the bottom of the pool and his sister Cleio and tutor Mulciber are dragged in. In what I feel is the best story of the lot, `A Gladiator Dies Only Once' Gordianus sits through a munera with Cicero, witnessing the brutality of gladiatorial combat, and is then by recruited by the Nubian, Zuleika, who is searching for her brother Zanzibar whose death isn't quite what it seems. In `Poppy and the poisoned cake' we find Lucius Gellius Poplicola, a somewhat stuffy censor, allowing Gordianus to rapidly solve the mystery of his cyanide cake with his wife Palla, and son Lucius but finds himself a pawn in a greater political game which echoes many of the fuller novels. We conclude with a visit to the oppulent table of Lucullus and his cherries for a mystery that skips murder entirely and offers Syalor's own conclusion to Lucullus' fading from history.

This is a delightful set of small additions to the Sub Rosa series and serve well to fill in the gaps of the thirty odd years that we have followed our Finder. I sincerely hope more Gordianus come from the pen of Saylor but this may mean he has to move away from creating mysteries based on histroical events as those events are fast running out, though having Gordianus involved in the most famous murder of all in 44B.C must surely lure Saylor's pen.

If you're an ancient history murder mystery fan then Saylor's one of the best. Buy it.

These nine tales all written in the past decade take place in Ancient Rome in the middle of the first century BC and star Gordianus the finder whose clients provides him with plenty of work (payment is a different story). The cases vary and those "hiring" Gordianus are as wild a group as any detective (make that a finder) might imagine working for. The stories are fun mostly because they provide a deep look at Ancient Rome and the eccentricity of the support characters. Gordianus is his usual witty self, matching and trumping opponents with his intelligence and humor especially the asides. Though not quite as strong as the novels (see THE JUDGMENT OF CAESAR), readers will find each contribution is well written and fun to read.

Harriet Klausner

As others have noted, the mystery is not of prime importance when reading a Gordianus short story. Example: just judging from its title, what sort of complicated secret do you expect to be hidden in a story called "A Gladiator Dies Only Once"? Rather, as with Saylor's other Gordianus short story collection, the glimpses of everyday life in the Roman Empire circa 80 BC are what make for good reading.

This is the first Gordianus work that I have read out of chronological sequence (I read the Roma Sub Rosa novels in order & read the House of Vestals collection in between the 1st & 2nd novels) and my enjoyment of it was slightly lessened by my knowledge of what will eventually happen to the recurring characters. Those less anal-retentive than I shouldn't run into any problems by reading this collection at any time.

Saylor has pleased me again with a fairly good portrayal of the Roman world and the limits of investigations into mysteries and crimes. I was slightly disappointed to not see Tiro mentioned more often given the number of guest appearances Cicero made -- the letters of Cicero to his secretary slave and freedman suggest they were rarely apart save when the orator and politican was in political disfavor or danger and none of these stories take place then. But these are short stories and need to be more focused on the immediate mystery at hand unlike a novel which can dive into the personal relationships and culture in greater degree.

This book is a compilation of nine mysteries involving that likeable sleuth Gordianus the Finder. They are all new stories and anyone who is a fan of Saylor will certainly want to add this book to their collection.

Steven Saylor is right up there with a number of excellent authors who use the backdrop of Ancient Rome as a canvas for their literary works. It is a period of history that holds a particular magic for me, so basically I cannot get enough of them, excellent, good or mediocre. I would certainly put Saylor's books in the excellent category and although in the main not a great lover of short stories, in this case I am more than happy to make an exception.

In 'A Gladiator Only Dies Once', Steven Saylor collects nine Gordianus the Finder tales he has written over the years. These stories are nice straightforward detective investigations with Gordianus as the upstanding honest gumshoe (gum-sandal?). His clients tend to be drawn from the patrician class of late Republican Rome - the supposed cream of society, but some of this cream has definitely spoiled.

Saylor is scrupulously accurate with historical details as he takes the reader to Sicily where he encounters Cicero and the secret of Archimedes' Tomb or to the luxuriant gardens and cherry orchards of the epicurean Lucullus. These are just two of the many historical characters in Saylor's stories. The resolution to Saylor's puzzles often lies not so much in the 'who did it', which is sometimes fairly obvious, as in 'why did they do it', generally a more interesting inquiry.

An appendix explains the provenance of each story and its connection to Roman history. A timeline of Gordianus' life will be a handy reference for fans of the Roma Sub Rosa series.

Highly recommended.

This collection of stories is a fine set of historical mysteries in its own right. Saylor is a wonderful writer, and the historical research is meticulous, and cleverly worked into the stories. But, for me, the greatest interest is fitting these stories into the career of his detective, Gordianus the Finder. The later career of Gordianus is covered in some detail in Saylor's novels, but there were gaps in the earlier part of his life which these tales illuminate. The author has created a memorable set of characters, and I am mightily glad to learn more about them.

I'm a big fan of the Gordianus the Finder novels. I've gone out of my way to read every one of them in the series.

However, these short stories are even _better_ than the novels. Maybe it's because Saylor doesn't have to construct a complex plot, or set a stage with myriad characters. He's able to focus on the storytelling, with enough historical detail to give the stories a sense of versimilitude. As a result, the tales are lighter... and you don't have to feel as though your mind has to be sharp to enjoy the stories.

As with any such collection, some of the short stories work better than do others, but none of them are clinkers.

Despite my effusive praise, I'd recommend that a newcomer to Gordianus read one of the novels first. Doing so will give a bit more backbone to the world Saylor writes about.

But overall: Lovely, entertaining stories. Grab it.

Like most of Mr. Saylor's short stories, these are long on ambience and short on suspense. Mr. Saylor has long been praised for the depth of his learning and his ability to bring ancient Rome to life. And I have no problem with that assessment. I am only too happy to pass these stories (as well as the rest of Mr. Saylor's work) on to my students as examples of "local color," as a means of learning about life in ancient Rome without having to resort to a deadly regurgitated PhD dissertation. However, if you plan to read these stories as examples of gripping suspense stories of the Agatha Christie variety, then I would say to look elsewhere. Most of the denouements are totally predictable.

Mr. Saylor's novels fare a bit better as suspense stories, by the way, perhaps because he has more space to develop plot and characters. Nevertheless, one can often see the concluding revelations coming pages away (Meto is certainly the mysterious, hooded man Gordianus spots around Masillia in "Last Seen in Masillia").Either that or the actual resolution is so contrived that it begs credibility ("A Murder on the Appian Way").

Even so, one would have to hunt with great diligence to find a more entertaining way of learning about Rome and these historical Romans.