Short Stories in English

Last updated XXX Januarius 2008

Gail-Nina Anderson and Simon Clark

• "In This Sign, Conquer" Classical Whodunnits
  In Alexandria during the reign of Constantine, Egyptian physician Theocritas Amun-Arten has just six overnight hours to discover who committed a locked-room murder and stole a valuable ancient map in the famous library. [***+]

• "Imogen" Shakespearean Whodunnits
  Imogen, the leading character from Shakespeare's play Cymbeline, sifts her memories concerning the real events of the story. [***+]

• "Mother of Rome" Shakespearean Whodunnits
  Taking up where Shakespeare's Coriolanus leaves off, Titus Lartius investigates the true cause of the death of the title character, sticking mostly to Shakespeare's vision of Rome. [**]

• "Murderer, Farewell", Classical Whodunnits
  In AD 8 Publius Ovidius Naso (Ovid) investigates the murder of Marcellus Gaius at the behest of Augustus. [*+]

Richard Butler

• "The Last Legion", The Mammoth Book of Historical Whodunnits: A New Collection
  On the orders of Emperor Honorius, Britain's last legion is shortly to pull out when murder and theft strike the legion. The rascally Silanus Gaius Escobinius, aka Spiro, a Celtic legionary, is ordered to use magic to find the rather obvious culprits. A reluctant detective, he is aided by his wife Gwynedd in this dramatic and humorous tale which will probably mostly appeal to the male audience. [***]

Lindsey Davis

• "Investigating the Silvius Boys",
  No Alibi
  Classical Whodunnits
  Investigations into the activities of Romulus at the founding of Rome, but more of a "true crime" than a mystery. [**+]

• "De Crimine",
  Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, 1952
  The Theme is Murder: An Anthology of Mysteries
  Death and the disappearance of valuable jewels cause the friend of Cicero's late daughter Tullia to seek his aid. [***]

• "The Cleopatra Game"
  The Mammoth Book of Ancient Roman Whodunnits aka The Mammoth Book of Roman Whodunnits
  The make-believe games of an Egyptian heiress pall when murder intrudes. [not yet rated]

• "Merchants of Discord", Crime Through Time III
  Decurion Quintus Vestinus Corvus investigates crime that results from the squabblings of long-distance merchants at his post near Hadrian's Wall. Claims to be set in the first century AD, but placement at Hadrian's Wall is clearly impossible as it was not even begun until 122 AD. There is a strong feeling of a fantasy medieval setting. Not clear that the story "plays fair" on a mystery basis. [**+]

• "The Fire That Burneth Here", Shakespearean Detectives
  Valerian, henchman of Tarquinius Collatinus, seeks the murderer of his inamorata, Claudia, slave to Lucrece. Inspired by "The Rape of Lucrece". [**]

• "Three Meetings and a Funeral" Shakespearean Detectives
  Lucillus, sham soothsayer and speaker of the famous words "Beware the Ides of March", overhears a conspiracy that makes him investigate whether something more than politics was behind Caesar's death. Marcus Antonius, Brutus, Cassius, Calpurnia et al. also appear. Inspired by Julius Caesar. [*+]

• "A Pomegranate for Pluto", Classical Whodunnits
  At Misenum in the time of Caligula, Hengist (a Celt, despite the Anglo-Saxon name), former gladiator and current wineshop keeper in Pompeii, investigates a mysterious death following a tempestuous dinner. [****]

• "The Brother in the Tree" Classical Whodunnits
  During the reign of Domitian, Epictetus, Greek philosopher of Nicopolis (in Epirus of northwest Greece), forays into the world of horror as well as that of Stoic philosophy. [**+]

• "The Gift of Minerva" Sword and Sorceress X
  During the First Punic War, when sailing from the island of Phaneraia to Panormus, Cynthia, witch of Syrakuse, is asked to identify the on-board murderer of a Carthaginian returning home on the ship of his Roman friend, Caius Duilius Nepos. [***]

• "The Things That Are Caesar's" Classical Whodunnits
  This tale explores a new angle on the death of Julius Caesar. [**+]

• "Cinna the Poet", Shakespearean Whodunnits
  The father of the deceased poet, Publius Oppius Cinna, investigates the circumstances of his death during the riots following the assassination of Julius Caesar. [*]
• "A Good Report of the Worm", Shakespearean Detectives
  A Greek, a clerk named Philocleon, is ordered by a Roman army tribune to write a report explaining the death of Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, Marc Antony's former chief-of-staff who defected to Octavius. Trying to complete the report turns up one oddity after another, raising questions of treachery and conspiracy. Inspired by Antony and Cleopatra. [**+]

• "The Ass's Head", Classical Whodunnits
  In Roman Britain in the early days of Christianity, the granddaughter of legate Cassius Marcellus Flavian is kidnapped and young decurion Marcus Gordius Octavio must investigate. Based on The Christians as the Romans Saw Them by Robert L. Wilken (1984). [**]

• "Blind Justice", The Mammoth Book of Historical Whodunnits: A New Collection
  Marcus Fabius Quintilianus (35-95 AD), aka Quintilian, the rhetorician, teacher and writer (Institutio Oratoria) is the detective and lawyer working a parricide case on behalf of a friend of the accused. His secretary Plautus Maximilianus Aureus acts as his "Watson". The author's understanding of Roman personal names is a bit hazy and the identity of the culprit far too obvious, but the feeling of the Roman court comes through strongly. [**+]
• "Four Hundred Slaves", Adventure, volume 1
  An heroic detective sets out to save not just one unjustly accused slave, but also all his fellows. [not yet available for review]

• "The Case of the Empress's Jewels",
  LMM, April 1950, 3
  The Mammoth Book of Historical Whodunnits
  Only slave detective Sollius can solve the mystery of the Empress Faustina's missing baubles. [****]
• "The Treasury Thefts",
  LMM, June 1950, 4
  The Mammoth Book of Historical Whodunnits
  In AD 174, Emperor Marcus Aurelius entrusts Sollius with an impossible case. [****]
• "The Case of the Garden God",
  LMM, August 1950, 5
  Mystery / An Anthology of the Mysterious in Fact and Fiction
  London Mystery Anthology
  Sollius travels to the countryside north of Rome to investigate claims that a statue of Priapus is causing livestock deaths. [****]
• "The Case of the Murdered Senator"
  LMM, October 1950, 6
  The Mammoth Book of Historical Detectives
  The powers of Slave Detective Sollius are taxed more than usually in a tricky, and perilous, case. [****]
• "The Hidden Snake", LMM, December 1950, 7 [***+]
• "The Case of the Frightened Poet", LMM, February 1951, 8 [****]
• "The Case of the Senate's Gift", LMM, April 1951, 9 [****]
• "The Case of the Etruscan Pin", LMM, August 1951, 11 [***+]
• "The Case of the Buried Chains", LMM, March 1952, 12 [**]
• "The Festival of Cybele", LMM, June 1952, 13 [****]
  Festival of Cybele
• "The Case of the Poisoned Shaving-Oil", LMM, March 1953, 16 [****]
• "The Case of the Honey Cake", LMM, June 1955, 25 [**+]
• "The Case of the Parthian Arrow", LMM, September 1955, 26 [****]
• "The Case of the Missing Slave Girl", LMM, December 1955, 27 [***+]
• "The Case of the Drugged Wine", LMM, March 1956, 28 [****]
• "The Case of the Greek Play", LMM, September 1956, 30 [****]
• "The Case of the Hidden Tablet", LMM, December 1956, 31 [****]
• "The Case of the Wasted Lesson", LMM, June 1957, 33 [****]
• "The Case of the Yellow-Haired Spy", LMM, September 1957, 34 [***+]
• "The Case of the Two Soothsayers", LMM, December 1957, 35 [****]
• "The Case of the Chariot Wheel", LMM, March 1958, 36 [***]
• "The Case of the Lion's Claws", LMM, June 1958, 37 [****]
• "The Case of the Golden God", LMM, September 1958, 38 [****]
• "The Case of the Murdered Babies", LMM, December 1958, 39 [***+]
• "The Case of the Senator's Farm", LMM, March 1959, 40 [***+]
• "The Case of the Missing Head", LMM, April 1959, 41 [***] [excerpt]
• "The Case of Corbulo's Trial", LMM, September 1959, 42 [****]
• "The Case of Chrysis", LMM, December 1959, 43 [***]
• "The Case of Justice Served", LMM, March 1960, 44 [****]
• "The Case of the Fearful Perfume", LMM, June 1960, 45 [****]
• "The Case of the Beheadings", LMM, September 1960, 46 [***+]
• "The Case of the Burnt Villa", LMM, December 1960, 47 [****]
• "The Case in the Camp", LMM, March 1961, 48 [***+]
• "The Case of the Missing Baby", LMM, May 1961, 49 [***+]
• "The Case of the Persian Ring", LMM, September 1961, 50 [****]
• "The Case of the Roman Banquet", LMM, November 1961, 51 [****]
• "The Case of the Bank Theft", London Mystery Magazine (LMM), March 1962, 52 [***]
• "The Case of the Unfinished Villa", LMM, June 1962, 53 [***]
• "The Case of the First Cup", LMM, September 1962, 54 [***]
• "The Case of Cotta's Jewels", LMM, December 1962, 55 [**+]
• "The Case of the Pleader's Notes", LMM, March 1963, 56 [***+]
• "The Case of the Roman General", LMM, June 1963, 57 [***+]
• "The Case of the Goldsmith's Daughter", LMM, September 1963, 58 [***]
• "The Case of the Bearded Man", LMM, December 1963, 59 [****]
• "The Case of the Courtyard Games", LMM, March 1964, 60 [***+]
• "The Case of No Conclusion", LMM, June 1964, 61 [***+]
• "The Case of the Two Horses", LMM, September 1964, 62 [***]
• "The Case of the Haunted Farm", LMM, December 1964, 63 [***+]
• "The Case of the Nest of Evil",
  LMM, March 1965, 64
  Classical Whodunnits
  During the reign of Septimius Severus, Sollius is beset by too many suspects when he happens upon a murder in a household. [***+]
• "The Case of the Pharaoh's Eye", LMM, June 1965, 65 [****]
• "The Case of Hanno's Oasis", LMM, September 1965, 66 [***+]
• "The Case of the Legion's Pay-Chest", LMM, December 1965, 67 [***+]
• "The Case of the Senator's Folly", LMM, March 1966, 68 [***]
• "The Case of the Servile Gang", LMM, June 1966, 69 [***]
• "The Case of the Last Skin", LMM, September 1966, 70 [****]
• "The Case of the Missing Corcyran", LMM, December 1966, 71 [****]
• "The Case of His Own Abduction", LMM, February 1967, 72 [****]
• "The Case of the Talisman", LMM, May 1967, 73 [***+]
• "The Case of the Sacred Horn", LMM, September 1967, 74 [****]
• "The Great Tin Mine Case", LMM, December 1967, 75 [****]

• "A Green Boy",
  Winter's Crimes 5
  Classical Whodunnits
  In Roman Britain of AD 77, Quartermaster Gnaeus Celer is called upon to investigate ambushes of the corn supply. [***]
• "The Boudicca Killing", Winter's Crimes 11
  A Roman investor has made a shocking profit in the wake of the Boudiccaean Revolt – the Colonel of Arcani is sent to forbidding Britannia Province to investigate. [***]

• "And All That He Calls Family",
  The Mammoth Book of Historical Whodunnits: A New Collection
  The Mammoth Book of More Historical Whodunnits
  A curse tablet (used to beseech the gods to bring misfortune on an enemy) is pulled up from a well on a country estate. In this Christie-style mystery where six characters are introduced in the first four paragraphs, John wants to determine who did this and whether they mean to back it up with mayhem. Sixth in the series. [**]
• "Beauty More Stealthy", Classical Whodunnits
  John the Eunuch has only one night to discover the murderer of a wealthy noble lady married to a barber. Third in the series. [**+]
• "A Byzantine Mystery", The Mammoth Book of Historical Whodunnits
  During the Nika Riots, Justinian gives his Lord Chamberlain, John the Eunuch, just twenty-four hours to recover a stolen reliquary containing a splinter from the True Cross. First in the series. [*]
• "The Finger of Aphrodite"
  The Mammoth Book of Ancient Roman Whodunnits aka The Mammoth Book of Roman Whodunnits
  [not yet rated]
• "Leap of Faith", Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, November 1998
  John the Eunuch has until sundown to explain the death of a controversial stylite or otherwise take his place living at the top of a forty-foot marble column. The Empress Theodora appears. Fourth in the series. [*]
• "A Lock of Hair for Proserpine", Chronicles of Crime,
  Fifth in the John the Eunuch series. [not yet rated]
• "A Mithraic Mystery", The Mammoth Book of Historical Detectives
  John the Eunuch enters a world of byzantine plots and counterplots when he investigates a murder in the mithraeum, holy place of Mithraism, at the behest of the Empress Theodora. Second in the series. [**]

• "Academic Question, An", Past Poisons: Brother Cadfael's Legacy
  [not yet rated]
• "Etruscan House, The", Crime Through Time II
  His aedileship over, Senator Decius Caecilius Metellus investigates the death of a senator in Rome amid political controversies. Marcus Antonius, Cicero, Pompeius, Metellus Scipio and Cato appear. [**+]
• "King of Sacrifices, The", The Mammoth Book of Historical Detectives
  At age 73, a still spry Decius Caecilius Metellus investigates a potentially scandalous murder at the behest of First Citizen Augustus. [***]
• "Mightier Than the Sword", The Mammoth Book of Historical Whodunnits
  Newly-elected Aedile Decius Caecilius Metellus finds himself diverted from duty when he stumbles across a corpse. [**+]
• "The Statuette of Rhodes," Classical Whodunnits
  After just barely escaping his last adventure in The Temple of the Muses, Senator Decius Caecilius Metellus arrives expecting to spend a holiday of dissipation in Rhodes when, near the ruins of the famous Colossus, he discovers a corpse. [***]
• "Venus in Pearls"
  Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, July-August 2001
  Although somewhat tired of being Gaius Julius Caesar's dogsbody, Decius agrees to find his pearly breastplate in advance of the Triumph. Caesar's grand-niece Julia also appears. The titular Venus statue does not appear to be historical. [**+]
• "The Will"
  The Mammoth Book of Ancient Roman Whodunnits aka The Mammoth Book of Roman Whodunnits
  Decius is in Rome following the murder of Gaius Julius Caesar. [not yet rated]

Rosemary Rowe (Rosemary Aitken)

• "Mosaic", Classical Whodunnits
  Libertus, freedman and mosaic maker, in Glewaw (Gloucester), Britain, some time after the Roman conquest, is ordered by the proconsul (governor) to investigate the murder of his patron. [***]
• "A Payment to the Gods" The Mammoth Book of Historical Whodunnits: A New Collection
  Libertus the pavement maker unravels a tricky case of a missing infant. [***]

• "Alexandrian Cat, The",
  Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, February 1994
  Mystery Cats III: More Feline Felonies
  "Eagle and the Rabbit, The"
  Warriors
  [not yet available]
• "Archimedes' Tomb"
  Crime Through Time
  A Gladiator Dies Only Once
  While on business in Sicily, Gordianus (and Eco) run into the proconsul (governor), Cicero who commissions them to discover the lost location of Archimedes' tomb. They find more than just the tomb. Cicero's secretary Tiro appears. [***+]
• "The Cherries of Lucullus"
  A Gladiator Dies Only Once
  Lucullus, conqueror of Asia, has some concerns relating back to the wars with Sertorius and Mithridates that he wishes to discuss with Gordianus in this 50-page story. Cicero, Lucullus appear. [***+]
• "The Consul's Wife"
  Crime Through Time III
  A Gladiator Dies Only Once
  A blind item in the Acta Diurna has put the consul in fear of his life before the next chariot race. Decimus Junius Brutus, an elderly adherent of Sulla known for his accomplishments in Greek and Latin letters and the courts appears, as does his wife Sempronia, described by Sallust as a woman of cultured tastes which did not omit intrigue. [****]
• "Death by Eros"
  Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, August 1999
  Past Poisons: Brother Cadfael's Legacy
  Past Poisons: An Ellis Peters Memorial Anthology of Historical Crime
  Death Comes Easy
  A Gladiator Dies Only Once
  Apparently returning from the events in "Archimedes' Tomb", Gordianus and Eco arrive in Neapolis (modern Naples) only find themselves in the middle of another suspicious death, this time of an athlete in a pool. Inspired by the moral fable, Idyll 23 by Theocritus, the Greek poet from Syracuse, alive in 270 BC who lived at the court of Ptolemy II at Alexandria. [***+]
• "Death Wears a Mask",
  Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, July 1992
  The Mammoth Book of Historical Detectives;
  The House of the Vestals: The Investigations of Gordianus the Finder ;
  in Dutch as "De gemaskerde dood" in Vijf Historische Speurders
  Gordianus takes his ward to the latest play by Plautus only to find it a stage for violent murder. Based on Cicero's Pro Roscio comoedo. [****]
• "The Disappearance of the Saturnalia Silver",
  Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, mid-December 1993
  The House of the Vestals: The Investigations of Gordianus the Finder
  In the midst of winter celebrations, Gordianus is confronted with death and the disappearance of the holiday gifts. [****]
• "A Gladiator Dies Only Once"
  The Mammoth Book of Ancient Roman Whodunnits aka The Mammoth Book of Roman Whodunnits
  A Gladiator Dies Only Once
  [not yet rated]
• "If a Cyclops Could Vanish in the Blink of an Eye "
  Candis, September 2002
  Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, August 2003
  Gordianus investigates the disappearance of the youthful Eco's toy monsters, perhaps similar to those found in this board game. The return to the detective's naiver days is quite pleasant. [***]
• "House of the Vestals, The",
  Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, April 1993
  The House of the Vestals: The Investigations of Gordianus the Finder
  At Cicero's behest, Gordianus finds himself making a midnight visit to the forbidden House of the Vestals. Catilina also appears. [****]
• "King Bee and Honey",
  Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, October 1995
  Once Upon a Crime II: Historical Mysteries from Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine ;
  The House of the Vestals: The Investigations of Gordianus the Finder
  Gordianus and the fourteen-year-old Eco encounter death while on holiday at the Etrurian country estate of their friend Lucius Claudius. Vergil's Georgics form part of the background of this tale. [***+]
• "Lemures, The",
  Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, October 1992
  Once Upon a Crime: Historical Mysteries from Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine
  Murder for Halloween
  The House of the Vestals: The Investigations of Gordianus the Finder
  Gordianus' client hires him to investigate the supernatural during the time of Lemuria (curiously transported from May to autumn). [****]
• "Little Caesar and the Pirates",
  Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, March 1995
  The House of the Vestals: The Investigations of Gordianus the Finder
  A youth has been kidnapped by pirates. Gordianus is brought in to investigate. Based on the kidnapping of Caius Julius Caesar. [***+]
• "Poppy and the Poisoned Cake",
  Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, December 1998
  Crème de la Crime
  The Mammoth Book of Historical Whodunnits: A New Collection
  Just two years after the Spartacan revolt, Gordianus takes on a very hush-hush poisoning case from Censor Lucius Gellius Publicola (here rendered "Poplicola"), in which it appears that the Censor has nearly been poisoned by his son. After Gordianus solves it with relative ease, he gets a hard lesson on the inner workings of power in the Republic. [***]
• Something Fishy in Pompeii
  Candis, July 2003
  Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, March-April 2004
  A Gladiator Dies Only Once
  Coca-Cola was not the first company to worry about its secret recipe being stolen as even back in ancient Rome the younger Gordianus had to investigate the copying of a very special quality garum. The B plot has somewhat overtaken the mystery in this one however as there isn't that much "finding" to do. By the way this method of making sauce – a very important industry in what is now Portugal – later made its way to China, no doubt over the Silk Road, where it was adapted and called "ke tziap" and eventually reached America as good old familiar "ketchup". [**+]
• "Treasure House, The",
  The Armchair Detective, Spring 1993
  The House of the Vestals: The Investigations of Gordianus the Finder
  Gordianus' slave Bethesda retells the story of Egyptian King Rhampsinitus and the Treasure House (from Herodotus). [***]
• "White Fawn, The",
  Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, December 1996
  Classical Whodunnits
  A Gladiator Dies Only Once
  An unusual rescue mission leads Gordianus and adopted son Eco to faraway Hispania and murder. Quintus Sertorius appears. [****]
• "Will is a Way, A",
  Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, March 1992
  The Year's Best Mystery and Suspense Stories 1993
  The House of the Vestals: The Investigations of Gordianus the Finder
  Suspicious circumstances surrounding the witnessing of a will bring Gordianus a case and one of his most valuable future clients. Based on Cicero's e Pro Cluentio. [****]

• "Last Things" Classical Whodunnits
  Atmospheric piece set at the abdication of Romulus Augustulus in 476 AD is not really a mystery. [*+]

• "The Gardens of Tantalus", Classical Whodunnits
  In Corinth during the reign of Domitian, the philosopher Apollonius of Tyana considers the death of a rich man at his betrothal feast. [**+]

• "Convivium", Hardluck Stories, on-line 2007
  A medicus investigates the theft of a dinner napkin and the mysterious circumstances around it in the Londinium of AD 79. Inspired by poem 12 of Catullus in which he complains that his friend has stolen one of his napkins, this rather erudite, yet noir, tale of a dinner party is prequel to the novel Nox Dormienda. [***]

• "The Three Travelers",
  Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, January 1976
  The Mammoth Book of Historical Detectives
  Three Wise Men investigate the theft of one of their precious gifts. [***+]

• "The Favour of a Tyrant",
  Classical Whodunnits
  Archimedes investigates the sabotage of some of his work, as told by his assistant, Phanes. Hieron, Tyrant of Syracuse and Lysander the playwright appear. [***]

• "Girl Talk",
  Past Poisons: Brother Cadfael's Legacy
  Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, May 2000
  Claudia once again runs into Marcus and their energy is quickly devoted to solving a double case of decapitation as well as finding a Marc Antony partisan and would-be assassin of Emperor Augustus. [**]

• "Farmer's Law", Crime Through Time III
  In the rural Byzantine Empire of the eighth century, Father George investigates a brutal murder as we learn something about the Greek language and Byzantine legal system. [***+]

• "The Problem of the Emperor's Mushrooms",
  Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, 1945
  All But Impossible!
  We know who killed the Emperor Claudius, right? but how did they do it? [***]