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Gordianus and his wife, Bethesda, have returned from Egypt to Rome. Gordianus has put aside his career as a 'finder' or detective and now wants to enjoy his retirement and family. Unfortunately, Calpurnia, Caesar's wife, does not allow him this option. Her current Etruscan haruspex, or soothsayer, believes that Julius Caesar will be murdered during his Triumphs. Calpurnia does not want this to happen and wants Gordianus to prevent Caesar's death. Gordianus does his best to refuse the job, as he is old, tired, and sick of politics. Being polite, he allows Calpurnia to fill him in on the background of the situation, which turns out to be a mistake on his part. It seems that she originally hired an old friend of Gordianus for help. Hieronymus began questioning everyone who could possible have been involved and seemed to be making progress in the investigation. That was until someone murdered him. Calpurnia believes that Hieronymus' murderer is the same person conspiring against her husband. Gordianus agrees to find Hieronymus' killer. If this leads to the person conspiring against Caesar then all the better; however, Gordianus doesn't care about this conspiracy. Rome is in the midst of preparation for Julius Caesar’s Four Triumphs, so tensions are high across the class lines. Any one of these highly publicized and highly anticipated events would be the perfect opportunity for murder since members from all classes mingle during the events. Gordianus must find Hieronymus' notes and follow the clues he unearthed. This trail will take him from the gangsters of the notorious underbelly of Rome to the nobility with its own notorious deeds. Hieronymus had a wide range of acquaintances and any of these people might hold the clue to his murder. Gordianus must dig through the lies, secrets, and conspiracies of Rome to find the killer without being killed himself for asking the wrong questions. I did not enjoy THE TRIUMPH OF CAESAR as much as some of the other books in the series. The characters are not as strongly developed as in previous books nor does this book contain much action or investigation. Gordianus is hesitant to take the help offered to him when it threatens the security of his worldview – for example the help offered by his daughter in questioning some of the suspects. In addition, his search for Hieronymus' killer seems aimless rather than determined. Gordianus is now an old man, and his actions are those of an old man rather than a virile detective. Normally I rush out to buy the latest addition to this series but this no longer holds true: THE TRIUMPH OF CAESAR indicates that it might be time for Gordianus to retire and allow the series to end. On the other hand, THE TRIUMPH OF CAESAR does indicate that there might be a future for Diana to set herself up as a 'finder'. I hope that Steven Saylor does decide to shift the series to her perspective as there are a lot of potential avenues into which he could then direct the series. His books are always well detailed and researched; so a new protagonist might just be the push the series needs.
Reviewed by Sarah Dudley, June 2008
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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