Frank Carlson Library

Beautiful and musical Judaean slave Thea attempts to survive and prosper in first century Rome despite a spiteful mistress, a broken love affair with a gladiator, and, most dangerous of all, an interested Emperor. A slave girl from Judaea, Thea is purchased as a toy for the spiteful heiress Lepida Pollia. When Thea captures the attention of Arius, Rome's most savage gladiator, his love brings Thea the first happiness of her life. Their affair ends...

"In the sacred grove of Julius Caesar, something deadly stirs in the undergrowth-a serial killer, who haunted the gardens for years, has claimed another victim-in Lindsey Davis's next historical mystery, The Grove of the Caesars. At the feet of her adoptive father, renowned private informer Marcus Didius Falco, Flavia Albia learned a number of important rules. First and foremost-always keep one's distance from the palace, nothing good comes from that...

Wobegon goes abroad in this rousing and moving story of a group trip to Rome in which the warm circle of kinship invites stories of astonishing frankness and self-revelation--and of course, humor.

"The next in New York Times top 5 bestseller Steve Berry's Cotton Malone series involves the Knights of Malta, papal conclave, and lost documents that could change history. A deadly race for the Vatican's oldest secret fuels New York Times bestseller Steve Berry's latest international Cotton Malone thriller. The pope is dead. A conclave to select his replacement is about to begin. Cardinals are beginning to arrive at the Vatican, but one has fled...

In Rome in 62 A.D., seventeen-year-old Hylas must find a way to save himself, his mother, and the other household slaves from imprisonment and imminent death when their master, a prominent senator, is found murdered.

"1944, Rome. Newlywed Niki Novotnà is recruited by a new American spy agency to establish a secret branch in Italy's capital. One of the OSS's few female operatives abroad and multilingual, she's tasked with crafting fake stories and distributing propaganda to lower the morale of enemy soldiers. Despite limited resources, Niki and a scrappy team of artists, forgers, and others--now nicknamed The Lipstick Bureau--find success, forming a bond amid...

The purchase of a slave for their teacher leads a group of schoolboys in ancient Rome into a dangerous intrigue.

The medicus Ruso and his wife Tilla are back in the borderlands of Britannia, this time helping to tend the builders of Hadrian's Great Wall. Having been forced to move off their land, the Britons are distinctly on edge and are still smarting from the failure of a recent rebellion that claimed many lives. When Ruso's recently arrived clerk, Candidus, goes missing, tensions increase. Then a local boy also vanishes, and Ruso and Tilla discover an intricate...

With the beautiful and cunning Poppaea at his side, Nero Augustus commands the Roman empire, ushering in an unprecedented era of artistic and cultural splendor. Although he has yet to produce an heir, his power is unquestioned. But in the tenth year of his reign, a terrifying prophecy comes to pass and a fire engulfs Rome, reducing entire swaths of the city to rubble. Rumors of Nero's complicity in the blaze start to sow unrest among the populace--and...