Ancient Thriller Mysteries

The origins of the outbreak were never in dispute, although at first almost no one believed the dead were actually rising. When the island nation of Haiti was struck by wave after wave of violent earthquakes killing thousands, the Z-virus lurched spectacularly to life. Early reports of cannibalism from inside the country were disregarded until shocking live video splashed across the world's television and computer screens. Suddenly everyone was a believer.

Four novella-length stories written to illuminate Lindsey Davis's unparalleled output of the last 30 years, with an introduction written and narrated by the author.

Tribune Cato and Centurion Macro, hardened veterans of the Roman army, have faced the empire's enemies from Britannia to Parthia, from Hispania to Judea. Now once again they are on a mission that will imperil their lives and those of all who serve with them. Loyal to the last to their comrades in battle, fearless in the face of the most brutal or barbaric opponents, they are the finest men the emperor can call on in the service of Rome.

As mysterious injuries, and even deaths, begin to appear in the medical ledgers, it's clear that all is not well amongst the native recruits to Britannia's imperial army. Is the much-decorated centurion Geminus preying on his weaker soldiers? And could this be related to the appearance of Emperor Hadrian? Bound by his sense of duty and ill-advised curiosity, Ruso begins to ask questions nobody wants to hear. Meanwhile his barbarian wife Tilla is finding out some of the answers....

Assyria, in the reign of Ashurbanipal. For Aurya and her daydreaming brother, Sharo, every day is a struggle for survival, as they dodge the beatings of their drunken father and scrabble for scraps of food. One violent evening, everything changes. Soon, they are on the barge of King Ashurbanipal, bound for the beautiful, near-mythical city of Nineveh.

In the depths of the desert on the empire's Eastern Frontier, the Roman army lays siege to the city of Nicopolis. Estranged from his beloved Enica to keep her safe, centurion Flavius Ferox has secured his freedom after being framed once again. His next quest: to uncover traitors within the Roman ranks. As the siege builds, widespread corruption seethes and soldiers are murdered in cold blood. Meanwhile, Ferox's investigation brings him closer and closer to the imperial court, and uncovers connections to Hadrian himself...

In present-day Cambridge, Abi, a recently ordained priest of the Church of England, is appointed to a notoriously difficult parish. The priest in charge is the charismatic but fundamentalist Kier. He objects to her mysticism, her practice of healing in particular. When she sees a vision of a congregation in an old church, Kier accuses her of witchcraft, but Abi soon sees more visions; an entire Roman family history dark with betrayal and a promise of bloody revenge.

It is 1066 and the Saxon leadership lie dead at Senlac Hill. Only Aelfraed and his northern rebels hold out against the Norman war machine. Fighting treachery as well as Normans Aelfraed and his warriors bravely take the fight to the Normans. Forced to become outlaws they fight a rearguard action from the northern forests until William relentlessly hunts them down.

When Akhenaten finally goes too far and meets his bloody fate, the court of Egypt is plunged into chaos. The royal family's most ambitious players are locked in a contest for the throne that can only end in victory for one...and death for the others. Nefertiti returns from her exile, wielding more than just her wits. She has Tutankhamun, Egypt's rightful heir. Smenkhkare's idealism makes him popular with the common people, but will his sense of justice and maat protect him from the vicious politics of his relatives?

A mysterious ceremony in an unknown location has triggered a catastrophic countdown that will climax in no less than the end of all life on Earth. But Jack and his team might be able to ward off the coming Armageddon if they can find the fabled Six Sacred Stones.

In modern-day London, architectural historian and recovering alcoholic Annie Kendall hopes to turn her life around and restart her career by locating several long-missing pieces of ancient Judaica. Geoff Harris, an investigative reporter, is soon drawn into her quest, both by romantic interest and suspicions about the head of the Shalom Foundation, the organization sponsoring her work. He's also a dead ringer for the ghost of a monk Annie believes she has seen at the flat she is subletting in Bristol House.

They were born in the middle of a battle, into a world at war. And from their first moments of life, twins Satyrus and Melitta were fighting for survival. Their father, a Greek mercenary, was cut down not long after they had taken their first breath; their Scythian mother was cruelly murdered when they were still children.

The emperor: Nero, emperor of Rome and feared by his subjects for his temper and cruelty, is in possession of an ancient document predicting that Rome will burn. The spy: Sebastos Pantera, assassin and spy for the Roman Legions, is ordered to stop the impending cataclysm. He knows that if he doesn't, his life - and that of thousands of others - is in terrible danger. The chariot boy: Math, a young charioteer, subject to the wiles and schemes of the emperor and the spy.

Set in the years before the Battle of Hastings, the story follows the trials and tribulations of Aelfraed, a young boy who aspires to be a warrior. When his uncle, Aethelward, takes him to join the warriors of Harold Godwinson, his life is irrevocably changed. Fighting the Welsh brings him great honour and when he saves the life of Edward the Confessor, he becomes a man of great reputation. The novel culminates in the battle of Stamford Bridge when the Housecarls defeated the last of the Vikings, Harald Hadrada.

936 AD. Brittany is torn apart by war. Many nobles have sought refuge in King aethelstan's England, including Louis, prospective king of Francia. Einar and the Wolf Coats, disillusioned by events in Norway, are also at aethelstan's court. When Louis decides to take up his throne, aethelstan sees a way to make a crucial ally: a powerful noble whose support Louis needs. And aethelstan has just the men he needs to carry his message... and undertake a secret mission.The Wolf Coats' quest is fraught with danger and foreboding, for the world is changing.

Altea, una de las más brillantes discípulas de Platón, no sabe que tiene al enemigo en su propia casa y que tanto ella como el bebé que espera se encuentran en peligro. Por su parte, su amigo y maestro Platón arriesga la vida para intentar hacer realidad su gran proyecto: unir la política y la filosofía con el fin de que gobiernen la justicia y la razón, en lugar de la corrupción y la retórica vacía de los demagogos.

The Aventine is full of fracturing families. Wives plot to leave their husbands, husbands plot to spend more time with their mistresses. Masters must endure slaves taking obscene liberties, while aggressive slaves are learning to ape dangerous masters. But no one wants to hire an investigator during the holiday. Albia is lumped with her own domestic stress: overexcited children and bilious guests, too many practical jokes and her magistrate husband Tiberius preoccupied with local strife.

Princeton. Good Friday, 1999. On the eve of graduation, two students are a hairsbreadth from solving the mysteries of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili. Famous for its hypnotic power over those who study it, the 500-year-old Hypnerotomachia may finally reveal its secrets to Tom Sullivan, whose father was obsessed with the book, and Paul Harris, whose future depends on it. As the deadline looms, research has stalled, until an ancient diary surfaces.

When Zet's father left home to fight the Hyksos, his only option was to leave siblings Zet and Kat in charge. It turns out keeping food on the table is easier said than done. They need a solution and they need it now. One day, Zet spots a thief running through their market square. When the thief gets away, the medjay announce a reward for the man's capture. Zet jumps at the chance. The medjay, however, laugh at him. Zet cares little what they think. The siblings soon set off on a dangerous investigation.

Elle Newmark's richly seductive prose brings to life the color and scandal of 15th-century Venice. Through Luciano, a street urchin apprenticed to a great chef in the palace of the doge, Newmark tells a wicked tale of political and papal intrigue. In Venice where every whisper is a secret or a lie, Luciano's initiation into the chef's spicy world makes for deliciously suspenseful listening.