Customer Reviews

Sejanus

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I'm an unabashed fan of historical fiction, particularly novels set in the Roman Republic and early Principate. Wishart is quite competent and entertaining, and "Sejanus" is possibly the best of the Corvinus novels (although I still think "Virgil" is Wishart's personal best). The characters, particularly the protagonist, are somewhat "caricatured in charcoal", but the mood of the period is quite well rendered, and the plot is mildly entertaining (if you're into this sort of thing). Overall, I consider Wishart roughly on a par with Saylor, and to me that's pretty hearty praise (though I still think that McCullough is definitely superior to all of her competitors).

David Wishart was born in Arbroath, Scotland. He studied Classics - Latin and Greek - at Edinburgh University and after graduation taught for four years in a secondary school. He then retrained as a teacher of English as a Foreign Language and worked abroad for eleven years, in Kuwait, Greece and Saudi Arabia. He returned to Scotland in 1990 and now lives with his family in Carnoustie, mixing writing with teaching EFL and study skills at Dundee University.

Following the funeral of his father Marcus Corvinus is approached by two member of the senate. They would like Marcus to do a `number' on Sejanus, deputy and likely successor to the present Emperor Tiberius. There brief is to find out anything and everything about his past, particularly if it something Sejanus would prefer kept quiet.

Marcus cannot resist the thrill of the chase and the opportunity to once again test his powers of detection. However his investigations uncover a trail of betrayal, treason and murder. Has our amateur sleuth got more than he bargained for this time?