All Roads Lead to Murder: A Case from the Notebooks of Pliny the Younger

It's 83 A.D. and Pliny the Younger, with his friend Tacitus, is en route to Rome after a tour of duty in Antioch. While stopping over in Smyrna, a gruesome murder occurs, throwing Pliny into the role of a 1st Century Sherlock Holmes. Before we learn who dunnit, Mr. Bell treats us to a romp through the byways and highways of ancient Smyrna while at the same time painlessly illuminating for us the laws and customs of the 1st Century Roman Empire. He does an excellent job of incorporating historical personages into the plot. I especially enjoyed the inclusion of two well-known individuals from the New Testement and their "peculiar" beliefs. This is the first of a series featuring the detective exploits of Pliny the Younger. The second, The Blood of Caesar, is equally good and I look forward to more such adventures.

Set in the world of the first century Roman Empire, Pliny the Younger teams up with his friends Taciiitus the historian and the Christian physician Luke who is composing the story of his crucificed god Jesus, to solve an horrific murder in the ancient community of Smyrna. Superbly illustrasted with 30 line drawings by William Martin Johnson that original appeared in the firrst edition of Lew Wallace's 19th Centuryt novel "Ben Hur", and supplemented with a glossary of terms for the use of modern readers, All kRoads Lead To Murder is a superbly crafted, wonderfully written murder mystery that treats the reader to a thrilling detective story meticulously backgrounded with accurate historical detail. Author Albert A. Bell, Jr. (Professor of History at the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill) has drawn upon his considerable expertise and imagination to craft one of the best antiquarian murder mysteries published to date. Also very highly recommended is his earlier antiaurian historical novel, Daughter of Lazarus; and his nonfiction work Resources in Ancient Philosophy (co-authored with James B. Allis) and Exploring The New Testament World.

If a writer wants to introduce a new series in the somewhat crowded field of Roman mysteries, he'd better have a unique twist. Albert Bell has done that. Instead of fictional sleuths, he uses historical characters, Pliny the Younger and the historian Tacitus, in the first of what promises to be a fine series. Bell combines historical knowledge, witty writing, and a plot with just enough complications and suspects to lead to a thoroughly satisfying conclusion. Pliny and Tacitus have to find out who murdered a man travelling with them while also protecting a beautiful young slave girl who may be the killer's next victim. I can't wait for the next one!

The field of mysteries set in ancient Rome is a bit crowded, with Davis, Saylor, and Roberts, but this new entry deserves to take its place at the head of the line. It features an historical character, Pliny the Younger, with his friend the historian Tacitus playing the Dr. Watson role. While traveling back to Rome in a caravan in 83 AD, they stop overnight in Smyrna. The next morning they discover that a member of the caravan has been brutally murdered. Suspects abound: a gambler who was in debt to the victim, a group of women who may be involved in occult practices, an abused slave, and several others. With no Roman magistrates on the scene, Pliny takes charge of the investigation. He soon realizes that the case is more complicated than at first appears. He must find the killer because he himself may have been the intended victim. First rate!

High Country Publishers has won another great author from the larger publishing houses. Albert Bell asked an Internet mystery-discussion board for the name of a publisher for his sixth book, a historical mystery set in the Roman Empire of the first century CE [although the tone of this book begs the more traditional AD]. Bell found HCP's Senior Editor, a Roman history buff, and HCP is bringing out ALL ROADS next year.Bell, an internationally published biblical scholar, writes historical mystery fiction for fun. His present book is more than fun. Our sleuth is the Roman epistolist and administrator Pliny the Younger, backed up by Tacitus the historian, both at the beginnings of their careers, on the road home from their first political posts. For safety, Pliny and Tacitus join a larger group of travelers, who, it turns out, have come together not entirely by coincidence. Cornutus, traveling with a crowd of domestic help, catches our attention immediately by threatening to strike a clumsy slave. Nobody would notice if Chryseis weren't young, beautiful and blonde. When Cornutus is found dead in his bed in a Smyrna inn, with the heart cut out of his chest, everyone's mind goes back to that incident on the road.Bell treats us to a complex confection of intrigue served up with blood-red herrings and social questions, in an authentic ambiance of Roman imperial politics. Modern sensibilities are catered to by young Pliny's doubts about the ethics of public executions and slave ownership--doubts that the historcial Pliny expresses in his oeuvre--set against the fact that in his time, no major culture in the world had yet questioned either institution seriously. For this purpose, Bell includes a pair of Christians among the travellers, a Christian household where Chryseis finds a hiding place, and a mass execution scene in Smyrna's amphitheater.Bell's success with this story comes partly from knowledge of his topic, and partly from storytelling choices and engaging characters.