Death in Londinium

Londinium #1

by John Drake

Londinium, 1st century A.D.

Must every slave die?

Fabius Gentilius Scorteus is a Britannic Celt, the richest man in Londinium.

But he desperately wants to become a Roman citizen.

He calls upon his Greek slave Ikaros of Apollonius. Ikaros was once a soldier, nobleman and engineer, but, after his country was invaded by the Romans, he was forced into a life of servitude. Known for his mind-reading abilities, Ikaros is believed by some to have magical powers.

Londinium is in need of a method to raise the water for the Imperial Baths. So Scorteus calls upon Ikaros’ talents to design such a structure.

If this project is accepted, Scorteus will finance the project for Londinium in the hope of winning citizenship.

And once he becomes a Roman citizen, Scorteus promises to make Ikaros a free man.

But, things do not go as planned…

A member of the Scorteus household is discovered murdered. Everyone believes that it must be the work of a servant.

Under a vicious Roman law Senatus Consultum Silanianum, if any slave killed the master, then every slave in the house was put to death, meaning hundreds of innocent people.

Ikaros is sure no-one in the household is to blame. With his mind-reading powers, it is suggested that he may be able to solve the murder.

With the support of Morganus, First Javelin of the Twentieth Legion and his men, Ikaros sets out to solve the mystery.

And when further blood is shed their investigations take them to other parts of Roman Britain in an attempt to find the truth ...

Will Ikaros unmask the culprit before innocent blood is shed?

Death in Londinium is a gripping historical mystery set in Roman Britain.

Praise for John Drake’s Fletcher series

"Swashbuckling adventure on the high seas doesn't get much better than this. […] John Drake writes beautifully, and you'll be torn between savoring the words and quickly flipping the pages. Any favorable comparison to Stevenson or Patrick O'Brian is totally justified." – Nelson DeMille, #1 New York Times bestselling author

John Drake trained as a biochemist to post-doctorate research level before realizing he was no good at science. His working career was in the television department of ICI until 1999 when he became a full-time writer. John's hobby is muzzle-loading shooting, and his interests are British history and British politics (as a spectator), plus newspapers, TV news, and current affairs. He is married with a son and two grandchildren.

Endeavour Press is the UK's leading independent digital publisher. For more information on our titles please sign up to our newsletter at www.endeavourpress.com. Each week you will receive updates on free and discounted ebooks. Follow us on Twitter: @EndeavourPress and on Facebook via http://on.fb.me/1HweQV7. We are always interested in hearing from our readers. Endeavour Press believes that the future is now.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Historical, Roman Britain, Ancient, Fiction, Amazon

334 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 14, 2016

About the author

Just in case anyone's interested ... my latest Fletcher (Flying Machine) is up and running and selling well. Happy days.

I have just finished the third of my Londinium books (that's Roman London AD 100) and it should be out later this year: 'Gods in Londium'. My usual mixture of bloodstained savagery, plus authentic period detail.

Moving further on ...

'The Fletcher Companion' (all you need to know about Fletcher and his world), will also be available some time this year.

Beyond that, the next Fletcher for March 2023 (if the Lord spares me) will be 'Fletcher and the Constitution'. That's the US Constitution, and it's in deadly peril.

Mind how you go.

John Drake

Reviews

[Charles van Buren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review of the Kindle edition
Publication date: January 14, 2016Publisher: Endeavour MediaLanguage: EnglishASIN: B01ANQD6QU

A well researched historical mystery set in Roman Britain, this novel is a well written and interesting mystery and adventure. As a little extra it is also a well done bit of sugar coated history which reveals a lot about both the internal workings of the Roman Empire and the history of slavery.

Excellent character development brings to life people I cared about. One of the best historical mysteries I've read lately. I hope we see more of the team of Ikaros, the Greek slave and Morganus, First Javelin of the 20th Legion.

I downloaded DEATH IN LONDINIUM through Kindle Unlimited.

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful book I enjoyed so much I am tempted to start at the beginning and read it again. I am a fan of fiction set in ancient Rome and have read many such books by a long list of authors, but this is the first set in Londinium. At the center of the story is a Greek slave the Romans consider to have magic powers due to his natural intellect and early Greek education and life experiences. He is paired up with a powerful Roman to solve mysteries and resolve problems coming from a Druidic conspiracy. I cannot describe the plot without spoiling the joy of reading this book, so I recommend that the book should be read and enjoyed by those who love ancient Rome.

Kindle Unlimited

I just realized I can continue reading of Ikaros of Appolonis in a second book by this author. Happy!

[Mary Heron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wasn't sure about this.one.from the blurb. What power could a slave draw on to investigate the murder of his.master, slaves in Roman times were property and had less value than a pet. So, when I finally started the first of Ikaros of Appilonia's books I was very pleasantly surprised, Messalinus (probably misspelled) is a pure delight, he steals the book from Ikaros (in my opinion). He is the first centurion and is worshiped by all the leigonaire s almost as a God. He's a good man, toughened by war but with good heart and he is assigned to help ........and provide support......to Ikaros in his investigation. The two men develop an unlikely friendship which is.bound.by mutual respect. So there it is, Ikaros is given leave to look for his masters killer and it's two he cannot fail at, if the guilty party is not.found his masters slaves .....all 400+ including women and children will.be murdered......as per Roman law. As Ikaro Is one of those 400 it's in his best interests to succeed but it's not going to be an easy job......................

[Christopher Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written and interesting historical mystery set in Roman England. A clever Greek slave who is skilled at reading faces and moods is tasked with finding out who killed his master. The slave is an engineer and not a very likable guy (he comes across as arrogant, condescending, and mocking nearly everyone around him) but he's smart and capable.

With him is a war hero, a centurion who gives the slave authority and access, a man who eventually ends up respecting and befriending the irascible, snide Greek. The setting is well-crafted and the culture is presented pretty well (with a few modern terms and phrases dropped in like "police officer").

The author has notes in the back about how he tried to avoid dropping a 20th century character into the past (a pet peeve), and he did well in making them seem like they were of their time. They mystery is interesting, the characters distinct and memorable, the dialog is pretty well written, and the overall writing is solid. Recommended.

[Melanie S · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vivid historical whodunit and more

As a lover of historical fiction, I jumped on Death in Londinium. Brittania in the Roman Empire? yeah! Celtic fingers poking into Imperial politics, plots, plans and piles of gold? Oooh, even better! A well educated Greek nobleman whose descent into slavery places him at the crossroads of all the above? Hmmmm... Add a chain of murders, a supposedly suppressed druidic priesthood, a decorated and venerated Roman Legion commander, and a miserable harsh sentence of execution hanging over the heads of innocent slaves.... WOW! The plot boileth over., ending in the most astonishing dramatic resolution! NO SPOILERS! Fans of true crime, classic detective fiction, readers of historical novels - all will enjoy this deliciously intricate historical detective drama.

[Tina Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's not often that I get a mystery that's wrapped up in a historical novel that features Romans. Especially ones that feature Londinium and the Celtic tribes during the Roman occupation. I had to read this and so I'm glad I did. The main characters were really interesting and very human, especially Ikaros, as we learned about his past and explored his evolving friendship with First Javelin, Morganus. I cried while reading it. Twice. I was touched by the respective scenes, and at one point I had to put the book down and step away to process the revelation because it hit me very hard in The Feels. As for the plot, there were enough clues and red herrings sprinkled throughout that I didn't figure out who the murderer was until Ikaros worked it out, and of course, it absolutely made sense. I can't wait to delve into the next book, and then I'll be waiting as patiently as I can for the third installment!

[Adam Lofthouse · Rating 5 out of 5]

As an avid reader and writer of the ancient Roman world I loved this book. The detail is incredible, in fact it’s almost hard to believe the author wasn’t actually there!
The characters are three dimensional, each with their own flaws and challenges and the authors prose brings them to life.
The plot is thick, filled with twists and turns. I’m a big fan of murder mysteries and this one really fits the bill, I promise you won’t see the ending coming. But when it does you realise you have been drip fed the answer gradually as the story develops.
All in all, highly recommend

[Gabi Coatsworth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I gave this book five stars because it’s excellent in its class (historical mystery). The author’s depiction of the Roman Empire in Britain made me completely forget that I was sitting in snowy New England as I read it. I liked the two main characters, a Greek slave and Roman centurion, and the plot had enough twists and turns to keep me reading. I learned quite a bit about that historical period and the appendix tells you which things are true and where he’s taken a few liberties for the sake of the novel. I appreciate that - it makes me trust the author.

[Ivor Armistead · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Death in Londinium” is a thoroughly engaging, well researched and written historical who done it, with lots of political intrigue thrown into the mix. What more could you want?

[Steven Toby · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I ordered this book I had already read 3 of the Jacob Fletcher books by the same author, and based on the Amazon summary, I thought, sure, Mr. Drake could do a pretty good job with a novel set in ancient Rome. (There was a Roman connection in "Fletcher and the Blue Star," so he'd already shown he had some familiarity with the Empire.) The book was actually even better than I expected. I spent a lot of my college studies on related subjects as an archaeology major, and I was impressed by the book's authentic portrayal of a civilization that is very different from ours in some ways but related to it in others. You need to get away from Enlightenment notions like "self-evident, inalienable" equality, and enter an environment where thousands of people from the conquered territories that make up the Empire are slaves, but even the slaves live in a rather comfortable environment surrounded by Roman engineering and Roman law, protected, and occasionally abused, by Roman armies. There's a strict hierarchy among even the free people, with lots of bowing and scraping necessary to demonstrate an individual's respect for his superiors and the gods. The prestige of Roman citizenship is used to co-opt the subject peoples and eventually, essentially every free person in the boundaries of the Empire becomes a citizen, but that's later.

In the time of the story, about AD 100, the protagonist, a Greek slave who does academic work for a merchant, discovers that his master has been murdered. There's a law on the books from the Republican period, rarely enforced in this more enlightened age, that says if a slave murders his master, all the man's slaves must be put to death. The Empire doesn't have a police force but it has a disciplined, bureaucratic army, and a military tribune shows up at the master's house to investigate. He knows if he finds that a slave killed the master, 400 other slaves will be put to death. The protagonist, an intelligent man, finds himself keenly motivated by this threat and he raises doubts that a slave could have done it. The Army, not too happy about having to carry out the sentence, assigns a senior centurion to lead him in the investigation and I realized the book was shaping up to be a mystery, and an excellent one, with clues appearing on every page.

The scene is Londinium, the capital of Roman Brittania, and we get to see the Roman roads, palaces, baths, and their post system that allows a messenger to cover 200 miles in a day. The deceased was a rich man, and the governor of the province gets involved. Like in the Fletcher stories, I didn't wonder till after I'd finished it if there was a credibility problem with a slave leading the investigation and basically acting like a private investigator, even with the centurion nominally in charge. Not only does the author show his knowledge of the Empire, but he also shows a clear mastery of plot and intrigue. The book isn't short but it reads way faster than it has any right to. I finished it in 2 days. I'm definitely returning for volume 2.

You don't have to be familiar with the Roman Empire to enjoy the story and I would recommend it without reservation. Blood and guts are kept to an unavoidable minimum considering that several people are killed in the course of the action. The Christian religion has been founded, but hasn't appeared in Roman records yet, and the New Testament has been composed but probably not yet been written down in its final form. It's an amusing sidelight that the protagonist translates the Gospel of Matthew from Aramaic into Greek as part of his rather eclectic duties for the merchant. Josephus, the Jewish-born historian, has a cameo role at the end explaining why Christians can't sacrifice at the Temple of Rome and Augustus, the one ironclad requirement of Roman religion, setting up the historical persecutions of Christians that happens in later reigns. Like Josephus, the author "renders unto Caesar what is Caesar's," even though he scrupulously avoids quoting this Biblical phrase, probably because the New Testament is an underground document that hasn't appeared in final form. It's an amazingly rich story considering it also has page turning action.

[Ryan Traylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5 felt like a generous rating for this one.

This book was a contradiction. On one hand, it's a very detailed period piece set in 1st century Rome. You can tell the author did a lot of research on Roman society during this period and you get to experience it through a fictional first-hand account. The reader is shown the Roman cities in detail, learns about the Roman society hierarchy, and the varying perspectives of different factions within that city. This aspect of the book was great.

On the other hand, the dialogue and characters were, in my opinion, terrible. At first, I convinced myself that the very simple dialogue was a product of a utilitarian Roman society. Then, as the book went on and I saw how childishly written these characters were, I felt sure that it was written to be YA literature. The characters are subject to emotions and responses that are just not realistic and felt like something I'd watch in a children's show. The main character is written to be the ancient Greek version of Sherlock Holmes and is perceived to be magic by his contemporaries. But the "feats" he accomplishes are usually not all that impressive or interesting.

There is also many, many typos throughout the book. Missing or added words, added punctuation, missing or added letters. I've never seen more typos in a book. It could have definitely used a few more passes from editors.

Overall I'd say this book is a good read for those who are interested in the Romans, just as long as you ignore the main story

[V.L. Stuart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ikaros, former Greek senator and warrior, is now the slave of a grasping merchant in Londinium. When his master is murdered - presumably by a slave - his 400 slaves are condemned to death. Ikaros, know for his intellect and ingenuity, sets out to solve the crime and prevent the deaths.

This is a remarkable book for its understanding of Brittania under the Romans, of Roman law and customs, druidic power, and for its ability to entangle you in a period of history almost 2000 years ago. I was moved to tears several times.......not telling you when.

Five Stars! And I am reading the second book in the series, Games in Londinium.

[renejr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent mystery with history lessons.

This book rivals the best Sherlock Holmes in a unique time and societal setting. The author's imagination is bolstered by his obvious research of the mores, laws and the political impact of the period presented.

An extremely fascinating book, I truly regretted any interruption in my reading.

Enjoyable not only for the plot and characters, but, especially for the outstanding proof reading and editing, which is lacking in most e-books today.

[Jan Mc · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable historical mystery set in Roman Britannia at the end of the first century. Our investigator is a slave, and the author did a good job of showing the disadvantages of that state, although the proceedings are conveniently aided by a senior soldier and bodyguards. Lots of character growth combined with authentic attitudes.

As an editor, however, I must point out that there were plenty of copy and formatting errors that could be fixed, leaving a much cleaner manuscript. I look forward to the next book in the series, but not to the slog through flawed copy.

[Sue P. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Actual Time Travel--Bril!iant!

This book is a complex mystery and fantastic entertainment, while providing a wea!th of information about a great historic civilization. It takes the reader to another world . Yes, it's long, but you won't notice that, because you'll hate to see it end. The Kindle version deserved another proofreading to eliminate comma faults, punctuation issues, and a few missing words. The experience is wonderful anyway. READ THIS BOOK!

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clashing Cultures or Merging ...

5 stars because I met characters I enjoyed and want to meet again. This Roman"detective" story is full of intrique, suspence, and transports the reader to not Rome of 100AD but a surprising Roman London of that time and presents struggles between politics and culture, justice and injustice, priviledge and servitude, and religious beliefs old and new. Wouldn't want to live there but sure enjoyed a few days visit

[MacGal · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boring and Endless

HIRE A PROOFREADER! I started out with high hope for this book but alas it lived up to NONE of them. Figured out the “who done it” at the start and process of the main character getting there was endlessly boring. To make matters worse the typos became worse and worse as the story progressed and thus became disruptive. It’s worth neither the time nor the effort to slog through this volume.

[Annie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love Ancient History fiction or fact

Really enjoyed this book so much more than a bunch of battles. Much, much more to my taste. Not quite Wolf Hall etc but blooming fab all the same. Thank you for a great read and absorbing distraction at a very difficult time in my life. Loads of interesting content well thought out and although fiction love the bits of historical detail and a really sincere interpretation of what people may have said, felt, done. Who and how they lived.

[Carla Kerr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this - the characters were very vivid, and I liked seeing the mix of cultures in Roman Britain and learning about that period. The only bad thing is that it could have done with being edited for punctuation and paragraphing - lack of paragraphing can sometimes make the dialogue hard to follow.

[Erik Sapp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall Good

Overall, I thought this book was very good. The ending hints at a sequel which I will look for. The story itself is well developed and the writing is well done.

I only had a few minor issues. First, there are a lot of characters and keeping track of them all was a chore. Second, the main character is a bit of full of himself.

[susan b.hass · Rating 5 out of 5]

Compelling Read

I couldn't put it down. I wanted to believe in the integrity and humility of the Greek, mingled with a strong sense of self, and completely taken by his Roman guard and friend. The mystery was completely baffling until the very last moment! The Greeks comparisons of the two cultures was like having a personal tour guide.

[Bob Willis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Death I Londinium

An interesting piece of historical fiction taking place in what we know now as Great Britain. A unique relationship between a very high ranking Roman Army officer and a Greek slave as they work to solve the murder of the Greek slave's master.
I'm looking forward to reading the next book in the series. "Games in Londinium".

[Tom Peterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A different vision of Roman Britannia

Highly entertaining book that immerses the reader into Roman Britain era. I hope the author has plans for series with the protagonist, Ikaros of Apollonis, and Morganus First Javelin on the 20th legion.

[Judith Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

The ancient past comes to life in a complex but exciting tale

What could have been a dry period piece was instead a riveting mystery with good character development and a satisfying conclusion.

[Dori · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating!

A fascinating history lesson about an era that I didn’t know much about (Rome in London) all wrapped up in a murder mystery. Beautiful writing, meticulously researched, suspense, great characters and much more to recommend this masterwork.

[scott switzer · Rating 5 out of 5]

John Drake continues to please.

It does not seem to matter the subject or historical period in time. John Drake tells a good tale. It is hard to put this book down. While totally different than the Fletcher series, it is equally entertaining, riveting and surprising.

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written

I’m a big fan of historical fiction, & this is the best I’ve read in quite a while. Set circa 100 A.D., it is chock full of descriptions of daily life in a large Roman city. Twist at the end like all good mysteries should have. An altogether enjoyable read.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A.D. 100 Rich merchant Fabius Gentilius Scorteus wants to become a Roman citizen but needs the help of his slave Ikaros who he will free if the plan succeeds. But when Scorteus is discovered murdered it falls to his Greek slave Ikaros of Apollonius to investigate, with the help of First Javelin Morganus.
An entertaining well-written historical mystery with its cast of varied and likeable characters

[Henry C. Schumacher · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was a page turner

I like everything of yours that I’ve read, but the detective Samuel Slym needs more than one book, a whole series would be nice. Roman London sounds like a nice place, before the dark ages showed up
Henry Schumacher

[Joanne Wood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book. More please!