num_pages: 274
description: In this Edgar Award nominated mystery, John Maddox Roberts takes readers back to a Rome filled with violence and evil. Vicious gangs ruled the streets of Crassus and Pompey, routinely preying on plebeian and patrician alike. So the garroting of a lowly ex-slave and the disembowelment of a foreign merchant in the dangerous Subura district seemed of little consequence to the Roman hierarchy. But Decius Caecilius Metellus the Younger, high-born commander of the local vigiles, was determined to investigate. Despite official apathy, brazen bribes and sinister threats, Decius uncovers a world of corruption at the highest levels of his government that threatens to destroy him and the government he serves. Set in 70 B.C.
language: English
title: The King's Gambit
titlecomplete: The King's Gambit (SPQR, #1)
characters: Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, Lucius Sergius Catilina, Marcus Tullius Cicero, Marcus Licinius Crassus, Publius Clodius Pulcher, Titus Annius Milo, Decius Caecilius Metellus the Younger, Clodia Metelli, Julius Caesar (Roman emperor)
genres: Historical, Audiobook, Crime, Ancient, Thriller, Historical Mystery, Roman, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Mystery
ratings_count: 2892
places: Rome
series: SPQR
awards: awardedAt: 662716800000
name: Edgar Award
category: Best Paperback Original
publisher: Minotaur Books