Customer Reviews

A Murder on the Appian Way: A Novel of Ancient Rome (Dead Letter Mysteries)

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(29)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I generally read history, not fiction. In fact, until the past year, about 95% of my reading was history. I started reading Colleen McCullough's series of books on Rome, tired of it, and then tried Saylor. I think I've found my author. This book is splendid. Interesting, engaging, never insulting to my intelligence, but never overly dry or expository. The style is elegant and refined, as opposed to the clunky, cliche-ridden style of McCullough. The characters breathe. (For instance, characters can be erotic and alluring, but they're never lurid.) The storytelling is engrossing. I won't comment on the book's value as a murder mystery per se, because I'm not really a fan of the genre. Does it have a sufficient twist? I don't know; I don't care. I enjoyed the book, regardless of its genre.

All in all, a novel written for serious, mature readers, but readers who seek a fun, relaxing book. And after you finish the first, you can look forward to the others, because the central character, Gordianus, is warm, witty, vulnerable, imperfect, and thoroughly human. Someone I can identify with.

By the time I'd finished this book, I had ordered all of the other books in the series.

"A Murder on the Appian Way" is less of a mystery novel than Saylor's previous books in this series. There is still a mystery but the resolution is based on accidental encounters more than investigation. However, we get to see Rome as a confused, dangerous, and determined to remain civilized city as the clock counts down on the Republic. We briefly meet some of the big names you've heard of in Roman history courses but only briefly as would make sense for a mere "finder". No, this book is best read as an exploration of Roman society and of Gordianus' family as it grows up and increases in number, complications, and love. Gordianus would be considered a poor Roman father and husband in his day but for us, he is understandable and expressive. This novel made me more interested in him than any of the previous novels.

A Murder on the Appian Way reminded me of an epic historical fiction novel. Gordianus takes on a role such as Pug in War and Remembrance. He is able to meet almost all of the famous figures in Ancient Rome while still remaining a commoner. Steven Saylor is able to add personalities to the people usually only read about in history texts. The book presents a good mystery which posts many questions for the reader. The plot is believable and in the end all the confusing parts are resolved. Deeper themes are also touched upon. The beginning of the book addresses the power of a mob. The distress of a rioting Rome is portrayed, and destruction, anarchy, and rhetoric reign. Towards the middle, the book brings truth into view. Who knows the truth, who wants to know the truth, who has to benefit from the truth, and why? By the end, Gordianus is met with a difficult decision regarding his personal and family life. He has to weigh compassion with discipline and make one of the hardest choices of his life. The book was captivating and intriguing. I would definitely recommend it to anyone, and especially those interested in Ancient Rome.

I am a devoted reader of the Roman Sub Rosa series. Saylor has a formula going for these books which works very well. The reader gets an intriguing history lesson and a thrilling mystery at the same time. It's amazing how Mr. Saylor can flesh out these novels from actual events and extant speeches. Of course his fictitious private eye Gordianus enables him to do this. The reader experiences legendary people and events through the eyes of a "regular" Roman citizen and his family. And family is important. Saylor always seems to find a way to make the mystery have a twist as well as Gordianus' family story. Mysteries are revealed on more than one level, and that's an important mark of a great novel. I can't make myself give the book 5 stars because I reserve those for books that are life-changing. I didn't feel that way about Murder on the Appian Way, but I did highly enjoy it.

So one would be led to believe after reading this book. Though the "mystery" in this mystery novel isn't quite as strong as I would have hoped, A Murder on the Appian Way" still counts in my eyes as one of Steven Saylor's better works.

The story takes place in the year 52 BC, at a time when Rome was just beginning its slide into civil war and was inching towards the eventual fall of the Republic. Publius Clodius, a patrician turned plebeian demagogue, was brutally murdered on the road linking the capital to southern Italia: the great Via Appia (which, curiously enough, was built by one of his own ancestors, Appius Claudius Caecus). Called upon to look into the matter by Clodius' wife Fulvia and by no less a personage than Pompey the Great, an ageing Gordianus the Finder and his son Eco ride into the shadows beneath Mount Alba to discover the truth about the death of Rome's most controversial political luminary in years.

The problem with using historical events as themes for mystery novels is that one looks at things with the benefit of hindsight. (A little research of your own will tell you just about everything that happens in the book.) Saylor's skill lies in his ability to make even foregone conclusions seem uncertain, especially with the introduction of possible alternatives and suspects one would not have even considered after reading the ancient sources. Hence, even though the mystery element tends to get swallowed up by the vastnesss of the novel's rich historical backdrop, one could always expect something interesting to happen towards the end.

Although Saylor explains characters and concepts fairly well, knowing a tidy bit about such things as daily life, architecture and the politics of late Republican Rome will help a lot (when, for example, one tries to visualise such places as the Clodius house on the Palatine and the grand, rather cramped space that is the Forum Romanum). Having some prior knowledge about the political factions that existed at the time should also assist the serious reader when it comes to understanding the circumstances surrounding Clodius' death . . . but in the end, don't let the nitty-gritty details spoil your reading experience. Historical the basis may be, but the novel is a work of fiction nonetheless and is meant for entertainment above all else. And of course, you'd pick up a lot of things about Roman history at the same time.

All told, "A Murder on the Appian Way" may seem more like a Colleen McCullough than an Agatha Christie: more history, less mystery. But that does little to dent the excitement and anticipation that builds up as one courses through this book, for one would feel as though he were right there on the Appian Way with Gordianus himself, riding into the face of danger and bearing witness to a murder that is not quite what it seems to be.

Stpehen Saylor's historical myster, A Murder on the Appian Way, is a striking hybrid of action, suspense, and historical background, although too much of the latter. The novel comes across as more of an overview of Roman life, rather than a murder mystery that happens to take place in ancient Rome. However short the book falls in creating whodunnit type suspense, his rich descriptions and historical characterization make the novel worth reading. Saylor provides a knowledgable look at such Roman characteristics as the Appian Way, the Forum, and the housing of a well off Finder. As Gordianus interacts with such historical figures as Ceasar, Pompey, and Marc Antony, Saylor makes the figures more than just lines in a text book. Although true to historical accounts, they always appear human. However, Saylor fails in creating an air of confusion, as I, the reader, care only passingly about the fate of characters who often come across as corrupt and evil. I would recommend this book for the Rome enthusiast and those who have run out of good mystery novels to read. However, I would not recommend this book for those seeking a hard-core suspense thriller. Fans of Saylor's other works, such as Catalina's Riddle, will find this novel lacking.

Does the Truth really matter? Murder on the Appian Way was a page turner. It wasn't your average murder/mystery novel, because the murder happened before you even start reading. I liked the way it revealed information in bits and pieces, through various characters here and there. It was also a mystery in a sense that you never knew who Gordianus was actually working for, or if he was working for anyone at all!?! The only thing I really didn't like about it was that there wasn't a real twist at the end of the novel. There wasn't a big "BANG", that made me stop breathing. The characters were interesting and intruiging, and the entire chaos at the beginning of the book, sparked the entire mood for everything that happened after. The entire time I was reading, I thought of how the crowd of angry Romans would react. My interest was very high until I actually found out the truth of who killed Clodius, I became uninterested after then because it seemed to me that it didn't really connect to the rest of the novel.

I love Steven Saylor's Roma Sub Rosa series. Yes, Gordianus is far too modern in his attitudes for an ancient Roman, but Saylor's descriptions of ancient Rome are wonderful and make you feel like you're really there. And at least Gordianus' oddities are acknowledged in-universe, so there's some concession there to the fact that he often does things a typical Roman man and father would not have done.

A Murder on the Appian Way deals with the death of Publius Clodius Pulcher, a famous populist rabble-rousing politician of the late Roman Republic. There's a lot of foreshadowing of the Republic's fall in this book; especially in the early conversations Gordianus has with his daughter Diana.

The murder of Clodius sparks riots and the burning down of the Senate house. Gordianus is eventually approached by his widow, Fulvia, to investigate what happened and also to check if Marc Antony had anything to do with the murder. He also runs into Clodia again, who also wants to know what happened. However, he doesn't really commit to working for Fulvia, and winds up getting hired instead by Pompey Magnus, usually referred to within the book as "The Great One." Heh.

So Gordianus and his son (along with Gordianus' new slave, Davus), set off to the Appian Way to investigate what happened. I'm not really going to get into the details of the investigation except to say that they eventually wind up being kidnapped, except for Davus, who is left for dead, and that while Milo was ultimately behind it, Cicero knew what had happened and let it happen (though he did convince Milo not to kill them).

To which my reaction was "Whoa. Steven Saylor really hates Cicero!" He had certainly portrayed him as the epitome of the scummy lawyer in past books, with some justification. But I really hadn't thought that his portrayal of him could get any more unsympathetic, but clearly I was wrong. Which is interesting to me, since while Gordianus' and Cicero's relationship had been deteriorating for quite some time now, this really marks the end of good relations between them presumably, and I wonder what means for future books. While I can certainly understand Gordianus' (and probably Saylor's) problems with Cicero's methods, I think ultimately Gordianus and Cicero want the same thing: which is for the Roman Republic to stay a republic. And we all know it's not going to for very long.

A few other items of note: we get introduced to Marcus Antonius for the first time in this book, and I was nerdily disappointed (and somewhat surprised) that Saylor has chosen to call him "Marc Antony." I figured if anyone was going to refer to him by his proper Roman name, it would have been Saylor, as he did so with Catalina after all (who's usually referred to as Cataline). Ah well. Most of the Marc Antony stuff seemed like obvious setup for future novels, including a somewhat shoehorned reference to a young Cleopatra.

We also get a broken Minerva statue being used as a rather obvious metaphor for the broken Republic, complete with a detailed description of how it must have had an internal flaw that was invisible on the outside but that ultimately made it vulnerable enough to get broken where it did. Really, Saylor? That was rather anvilicious of you.

I don't mean to bash this book though; it was pretty good. And I always enjoy Saylor's take on Clodia. He manages to never quite settle the question of whether or not she and her brother were having "improper relations," while at the same time portraying her as a definitely lusty, but ultimately sympathetic character, who in this book was genuinely grieving for her brother. I liked the scene at the end when Gordianus delivers Clodius' ring to her; a nice touch.

Another thing I'd like to mention is that this book marks the reappearance of Marcus Tullius Tiro, Cicero's slave who was introduced in Roman Blood. He was an extremely likable character in that book and remains so here, and it was a pleasure to see him again (and to see that he'd finally been freed). Something about the way Saylor portrays him is just so huggable.

"Murder on the Appian Way" is another installment in Steven Saylor's excellent "Gordianus the Finder" series of stories set in the latter days of Republican Rome. Here, Gordianus is commissioned by Marcus Tullius Cicero, who is acting as defense counsel, to investigate the murder of Clodius, who was killed in his caravan on the Appian Way. As with most of the "Gordianus the Finder" novels, the story proceeds at a leisurely pace, because the real purpose of the novel is to give the reader an understanding of life in ancient Rome. Saylor succeeds brilliantly.

Saylor reminds us that Republican Rome had no police force. Thus, if an unruly mob erupted there was no civic force available to control it. So corrupt was Rome that everyone knew that a police force would simply sell out to the highest bidder. Similarly, Roman justice was hopelessly corrupt, with jury verdicts only incidentally concerned with the actual truth of the matter. This makes Gordianus' and Cicero's jobs that much more difficult.

In common with the entire Gordianus series of novels, this one is entertaining and also good history. Highly recommended. RJB.

I started with the first volume of Steven Saylor's sub rosa series and after Murder on the Appian Way, I have to say that each one is better than the last. This is just as much historical fiction as a mystery series. Besides interesting plots and characters, in Murder on the Appian Way Saylor takes us on a tour of ancient Rome as it might have been. We witness an urban riot, go on a guided tour of the Appian Way in which we visit villas, inns, and temples, experience adventures with Rome's most unsavory characters, and also meet such historical characters as Julius Caesar, Pompey, Cicero, Marc Antony, and many others. I am a Roman history buff which is likely part of the reason why I enjoyed this book so much. Familiarity with the institutions, historical stream, and personalities heightened my understanding and enjoyment. For me, this is a slam dunk 5 Star review.