The Venus Throw

Product Description [Library Edition Audiobook CD in vinyl case.] [Read by Scott Harrison] Rome, 56 B.C.: The Great general Pompey has conquered the East. Julius Caesar is defeating the Gauls. Only Egypt, with its strategic granaries and vast treasuries of gold, still eludes the grasp of Rome. The city itself is becoming ever more corrupt, as the last generation of the Roman Republic indulges in political back-stabbing, endless lawsuits, scandalous love affairs, and occasional murder. In recent days, several Egyptian envoys have been viciously assassinated. Fearing that he will be next, the Egyptian ambassador Dio calls on his old friend Gordianus the Finder and all of his special skills for help. Poison, betrayals, and long-buried secrets confront Gordianus as events rush to their resolution in one of history's most famous trials. But even after the verdict is delivered, there are still secrets to be uncovered . . . . Review ''Imaginative . . . Saylor's style is smooth . . . A[n] absorbing look at a time when men tried to rule themselves wisely and failed.'' --San Francisco Chronicle ''Engrossing . . . Intensely dramatic…Erotic, funny, compelling . . . A bona fide page-turner.'' --Detroit Free Press ''Steven Saylor transports you to ancient Rome with spellbinding effectiveness.'' --Austin Chronicle ''Simmering with eroticism, adding engrossing historical filler about Roman law, politics and goddess cult . . . [an] absorbing brew of Rome's decay.'' --Publishers Weekly''The remarkably vivid and finely etched historical background at once roots the characters firmly in their time and brings them alive for our own -- in this finest flower yet of Saylor's admirable Roma sub Rosa series.'' --Kirkus Reviews About the Author STEVEN SAYLOR is a freelance writer, editor, and the author of novels set in ancient Rome. He studied history at the University of Texas at Austin. His writing has appeared in the Threepenny Review, San Francisco Bay Guardian, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, and the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. He lives in Berkeley, California, and Austin, Texas.