Skip to main content
Trade Books For Courses Tradebooks for Courses

The Venus Throw

A Mystery of Ancient Rome

Steven Saylor

Minotaur Books

opens in a new window
opens in a new window The Venus Throw Download image

ISBN10: 0312539673
ISBN13: 9780312539672

Trade Paperback

368 Pages

$22.99

CA$32.99

Request Desk Copy
Request Exam Copy

TRADE BOOKS FOR COURSES NEWSLETTER

Sign up to receive information about new books, author events, and special offers.

Sign up now

On a chill January evening in 56 B.C., two strange visitors to Rome—an Egyptian ambassador and a eunuch priest—seek out Gordianus the Finder whose specialty is solving murders. But the ambassador, a philosopher named Dio, has come to ask for something Gordianus cannot give—help in staying alive. Before the night is out, he will be murdered.

Now Gordianus begins his most dangerous case. Hired to investigate Dio's death by a beautiful woman with a scandalous reputation, he will follow a trail of political intrigue into the highest circles of power and the city's most hidden arenas of debauchery. There Gordianus will learn nothing is as it seems—not the damning evidence he uncovers, not the suspect he sends to trial, not even the real truth behind Dio's death which lies in secrets—not of state, but of the heart.

Reviews

Praise for The Venus Throw

"Imaginative . . . Saylor's style is smooth . . . An absorbing look at a time when men tried to rule themselves wisely and failed."—San Francisco Chronicle

"Saylor writes with vision and clarity, balancing sound historical scholarship with a gift for storytelling."—Anniston Star

"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

"Finely etched historical background . . . The finest flower yet of Saylor's Roma Sub Rosa series."—Kirkus Reviews

"Engrossing . . . Simmering with eroticism . . . An absorbing brew of Rome's decay."—Publishers Weekly




Table of Contents

CHRONOLOGY

Part One: NEX [death, usually violent death: murder]

Part Two: NOXIA [a fault or offense: a crime]

Part Three: NOX [the goddess Night, sister of Eros; blindness; gloom]

Part Four: NEXUS [a binding or tying together]

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Reviews from Goodreads

About the author

Steven Saylor

Steven Saylor is the author of the long running Roma Sub Rosa series featuring Gordianus the Finder, as well as the New York Times bestselling novel, Roma and its follow-up, Empire. He has appeared as an on-air expert on Roman history and life on The History Channel. Saylor was born in Texas and graduated with high honors from The University of Texas at Austin, where he studied history and classics. He divides his time between Berkeley, California, and Austin, Texas.

Louis LaSalle