SPQR series

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The SPQR series is a collection of detective stories by John Maddox Roberts set in the time of the Roman Republic. SPQR (the original title of the first book, until the sequels came out) is a Latin initialism for Senatus Populusque Romanus ("The Senate and People of Rome"), the official name of the Republic.

The stories are told in first-person form by Senator Decius Caecilius Metellus the Younger (born 95 BC, "the same year as Cato"), nephew of Metellus Pius and member of an important family of the Roman Senate. The stories are told in flashback-form by the old Decius, writing during the reign of Augustus Caesar. The stories range from 70 BC (The King's Gambit) to 22 BC ("The King of Sacrifices").

Decius' companions include his slaves Cato, Cassandra, and Hermes; his friends, the Greek gladiatoral physician Asklepiodes and the gangster/politician Titus Annius Milo; and his staunch enemies, the siblings Clodia and Clodius. Along the way, he is often helped by his father, as well as by Cicero and a young Julius Caesar. In later books, Decius is betrothed and then married to the (fictional) niece of Caesar, Julia Caesaris. The dates are all listed at the end of each book in the ab urbe condita calendar system.

The series includes (in chronological order):

  • I: The King's Gambit (70 BC) — Decius uncovers a plot to subvert Lucullus' army in the war against Mithridates. ISBN 0-312-27705-9
  • II: The Catiline Conspiracy (63–62 BC) — Decius uncovers Catiline's plot to overthrow the Republic. ISBN 0-312-27706-7
  • III: The Sacrilege (62 BC) — Decius investigates Clodius' desecration of the Bona Dea rites. ISBN 0-312-24697-8
  • IV: The Temple of the Muses (60 BC) — Decius investigates the murder of a philosopher at the Library of Alexandria. ISBN 0-312-24698-6
  • "The Statuette of Rhodes" (60 BC) (short story in Classical Whodunnits 1996 edited by Mike Ashley) — Decius finds a corpse on the base of the Colossus of Rhodes. ISBN 0-7867-0418-7
  • V: Saturnalia (59 BC) — Decius investigates the murder of his kinsman Metellus Celer. ISBN 0-312-32018-3
  • VI: Nobody Loves a Centurion (58 BC) — Decius investigates the murder of a centurion of the 10th Legion at the start of the Gallic Wars. ISBN 0-312-32019-1
  • VII: The Tribune's Curse (55 BC) — Decius investigates the murder of a tribune who curses Crassus on his way to Parthia. ISBN 0-312-30488-9
  • "Mightier Than the Sword" (short story in The Mammoth Book of Historical Whodunnits 1993 edited by Mike Ashley) — Newly-elected Aedile Decius Caecilius Metellus finds himself diverted from duty when he stumbles across a corpse. ISBN 1-84119-373-9
  • VIII: The River God's Vengeance (52 BC) — Decius investigates a collapsed insula, uncovering systematic fraud in the construction trade. ISBN 0-312-32319-0
  • IX: The Princess and the Pirates (50 BC) — Decius investigates the murder of his host, the Roman governor of Cyprus, while on the island to deal with an upsurge in piracy. ISBN 0-312-33723-X
  • "The Etruscan House" (short story in Crime Through Time II 1998 collected by Miriam Grace Monfredo & Sharan Newman) — Decius' investigates a senator's murder. ISBN 0-425-16410-1
  • X: A Point of Law (50 BC) — While running for election to the office of praetor, Decius must deal with accusations that he murdered a man who had threatened to denounce him for actions he took while on Cyprus the previous year.
  • "Venus in Pearls" (45 BC) (short story Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine July/August 2001 p36) — Caesar hires Decius to locate his stolen breastplate before his Pompeian triumph
  • "The Will" (44 BC) (short story The Mammoth Book of Roman Whodunnits 2003 edited by Mike Ashley) — Decius investigates Caesar's will following his assassination. ISBN 0-7867-1241-4
  • XI: Under Vesuvius — was released in English Dec. 2007, published in 2001 in German translation as Mord am Vesuv. ISBN 9780312370886
  • XII: Oracle of Death — currently unpublished in English, published in October 2005 in German translation as Das Orakel des Todes. ISBN 3-442-45685-1
  • XIII: The Year of Confusion — currently unpublished.
  • "The King of Sacrifices" (22 BC) (short story in The Mammoth Book of Historical Detectives 1995 edited by Mike Ashley) — Livia hires Decius to investigate the murder of Julia's lover. ISBN 0-7867-0214-1
  • "An Academic Question" (short story in Past Poisons 1998 edited by Maxim Jakubowski). ISBN 0-7472-7501-7
  • "The Mountain Wolves" (short story in Classical Stories: Heroic Tales from Ancient Greece and Rome 1996 edited by Mike Ashley). ISBN 1-85487-812-3