{{Short description|1991 novel by Steven Saylor}} {{Use mdy dates|date=September 2024}} {{Infobox book|<!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Novels or Wikipedia:WikiProject_Books --> | name = Roman Blood | title_orig = | translator = | author = Steven Saylor | image = Roman Blood cover.jpg | cover_artist = | country = United States | language = English | series = ''Roma Sub Rosa'' | genre = Historical novel | publisher = St. Martin's Press | release_date = 1991 | media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback) | pages = 357 pp | isbn = 978-0312064549 | followed_by = Arms of Nemesis }} '''''Roman Blood''''' is a historical novel by American author Steven Saylor, first published by St. Martin's Press in 1991.<ref>{{Cite web |date=September 15, 1991 |title=Roman Blood |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/steven-saylor/roman-blood/ |access-date=September 27, 2024 |website=Kirkus Reviews}}</ref> It is the first book in his ''Roma Sub Rosa'' series of mystery novels set in the final decades of the Roman Republic. It is based on the writings of Cicero.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Mittleman |first=Marilyn |date=April 27, 2005 |title='Roman Blood' an exciting historical adventure |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/2610787560/ |access-date=September 27, 2024 |work=The Stuart News |page=E6 |id={{ProQuest|2610787560}}}}</ref> The main character is the Roman sleuth Gordianus the Finder.<ref>{{Cite web |date=November 4, 1991 |title=Roman Blood by Steven W. Saylor |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780312064549 |access-date=2024-09-27 |website=Publishers Weekly}}</ref>
==Plot summary== The year is 80 BC, and the dictator Sulla rules Rome. The young lawyer Cicero is defending Sextus Roscius, a man accused of murdering his own father who now faces the gruesome punishment for patricide. After famed advocate, Hortensius passes on the case, young Cicero hires Gordianus the Finder to discover the truth of the matter. We are introduced to Gordianus' slave, Bethesda, the mute boy Eco, and historical persons such as the plutocrat Marcus Licinius Crassus, the powerful freedman Lucius Cornelius Chrysogonus and Cicero's scribe Marcus Tullius Tiro.
== References == {{Reflist}}
{{Roman novels by Steven Saylor}}
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Category:Roma Sub Rosa Category:1991 American novels Category:1991 English-language novels Category:Historical mystery novels Category:Minotaur Books books Category:80 BC Category:Novels set in the 1st century BC Category:Cultural depictions of Sulla Category:Novels about Cicero Category:Cultural depictions of Marcus Licinius Crassus Category:1990s mystery novels
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