Judgment of Caesar, by Steven Saylor

Thursday, November 04, 2004

Not everyone will be thrilled to see Gordianus the Finder locking horns with Cleopatra and her brother Ptolemy for no more logical reason than that he was found on the site where the headless corpse of Pompey was being burned. Some will even object to the fortuitousness of his winding up watching the decapitation of the Great One. But a touch (or more) of humor in so momentous a part of late Republican Roman history suits me perfectly.

Parallel to the conclusion of the Roman Republic as Gordianus knew it is the disappearance and presumed drowning of his deathly ill wife. All aspects tie together in this presumed final volume of Gordianus the finder.

Gordianus the Finder acts as the proverbial fly on the wall watching as his archenemy Pompey has his head whacked off, and then as Cleopatra has herself brought in to Caesar as the center of a rolled-up carpet. Then to affect a reconciliation with his son Meto from whom he has been estranged since Last Seen in Massilia, Caesar charges Meto with attempted murder. Gordianus has become such an old curmudgeon that he can't admit he might have been wrong to disown his son, but when his son's life hangs in the balance, his innate goodness shines through and he saves the day.

Most of The Judgment of Caesar sets the stage for this bit of detecting; that is, the mystery forms a small part, but it is crucial to the relationships that make Saylor's Gordianus series such a hit. There is also a second mystery which forms the beginning and end. That is the mystery of Bethesda's disappearance. Did the god Osiris take her or not? Although the ending is not entirely transparent, it seems pretty clear that the reunion of Besthesda and Gordianus spells the end of the series, unless Saylor intends to start writing in the fantasy genre.

Judgment of Caesar
by Steven Saylor
St. Martin's
2004
304 pages

Thursday, November 04, 2004