In the beginning of The Throne of Caesar, it’s just before the Ides of March, 44 BCE. Gordianus the Finder is about to become a senator, and Julius Caesar’s getting weird vibes and asks Gordianus to see if anyone’s up to anything. I was a bit skeptical of this opening, wondering how on earth a novel about the assassination of Caesar could possibly have any drama or suspense. Here’s the 2000-year-old spoiler: He gets stabbed. We know who did it, we know Gordianus doesn’t stop it, so where’s the suspense?
But it really works, because the novel skillfully blends Gordianus’ preparations to become a senator, his investigation in a warning scrawled on Cinna’s doorstep, some scandalous poetry, and Gordianus’ happy family life. Caesar’s warnings seem secondary to all the other things going on. The novel’s tension comes from the Finder shopping for a his first senatorial toga, while a world-changing conspiracy unfolds around him, familiar and clear to every reader but completely unknown to Gordianus. And when the inevitable happens, it’s actually the least-shocking mob justice in the book…
The book’s ending, with Gordianus’ daughter Diana offering to record and edit his memoirs of his mysteries, may be a hint that this is the close of Gordianus’ adventures. Readers of this Roman mystery series will also enjoy Trade Secrets, Foreign Bodies, and the rest of Davis Wishart’s Marcus Corvinus series.
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[…] In the beginning of The Throne of Caesar, by Steven Saylor, it’s 44 BCE, before the Ides of March, and for some reason, Julius Caesar’s getting some weird vibes. He asks Gordianus the Finder, to look into it. It’s a weirdly non-mysterious opening for a Gordianus mystery — all readers know who’s getting stabbed, who’s doing the stabbing, and how it’s going to happen, and that Gordianus isn’t going to be able to stop it. But instead, the novel’s tension comes from Gordianus’ preparations to become a senator, shopping for a toga, meeting with his sponsor and so forth, while readers are aware of a world-changing conspiracy unfolding around him. (Full review of The Throne of Caesar here!) […]