The Catiline Conspiracy - John Maddox Roberts

   1991; 204 pages.  Book 2 (out of 13) in the “SPQR” series.  New Author? : No.  Genres : Historical Fiction; Intrigue; Roman History; Suspense.  Overall Rating : 7*/10.

 

    Rome, 63 BCE.

 

    Somebody has stashed a bunch of swords and shields in the Temple of Saturn.  Decius Caecilius Metellus the Younger (let’s just call him “Decius” from now on) wants to know who.

 

    Well, Decius has every right to ask; he’s a quaestor in charge of keeping tabs on the inventory of offerings at the temple.  Granted, his main purpose is to deter people from walking away with those offerings, and weapons are rarely if ever given as donations.  But hey, a job’s a job.

 

    It’s funny though, those swords and shields are not of the highest quality.  Why would someone think Saturn would be grateful for used weapons?  And maybe whoever they belonged to just wants to temporarily hide them, not to donate them to Saturn.

 

    Someone who might want to overthrow the current government in Rome.

 

What’s To Like...

    The Catiline Conspiracy is the fifth book I’ve read in John Maddox Roberts’ “SPQR” series.  The 13 books present the crime-solving adventures of Decius chronologically, but I don’t think it’s necessary to read them in order.

 

    If you like reading deeply researched Historical Fiction, you’re going to love The Catiline Conspiracy.  John Maddox Roberts paints a vivid picture of life in Rome at the height of the Republic, showing the daily life of both the upper-class Patricians and the common people.  There's also plenty of Suspense and Intrigue in the storyline, if those genres float your boat.

 

    I liked the way the issue of slavery is dealt with.  Despite a quaestor being a low-level public official, Decius owns several slaves, all of whom are content with their position in life.  The famed Spartacus Slave Revolt had occurred just a few years before (71 BCE), which perhaps impacted how the Roman citizens now treated their servants.  I also appreciated the mention of Hannibal and enjoyed learning about the out-in-the-sticks rival empire called Parthia.

 

    Early on, Decius's neighborhood is jolted by a sudden spate of killings, and he is appointed to figure out who did what.  His sleuthing method reminded me of Peter Falk’s Columbo character—attend get-togethers where ambitious powermongers are gathered, and ask nonthreatening but insightful questions.  Hey, it worked for Columbo, and it works here.

 

    The ending is logical, albeit not particularly exciting.  The commoners that were swept up in the conspiracy fare poorly, but the powers manipulating them seemed to all get away.  Perhaps that was the message John Maddox Roberts wanted to leave us with.

 

Kewlest New Word ...

Myrmidons (n.) : followers or supporters of a powerful person.

Others: Rapine (n.); Sacerdotal (adj.), Extramural (adj.); Lustrations (n.), Sophistry (n.).

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.2/5 based on 275 ratings and 41 reviews.

    Goodreads: 3.91/5 based on 1,703 ratings and 102 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    I saw a man walking toward me through the rejoicing throng.  He wore a purple-striped senator’s tunic and his feet were bare.  I groaned.  A Senator’s tunic coupled with bare feet meant one thing: Marcus Porcius Cato, the most formidably boring man in Roman politics.  He attributed all the ills of the day to our failure to live as simply as had our ancestors.  He regarded himself as the exemplar and embodiment of antique virtue.  The early Romans had not worn shoes, so he didn’t either.  (pg. 8)

 

    “He wants a return to the evil days, when Romans killed Romans in the very streets of Rome?  I always knew he was pernicious, now I know that he is mad.”  He looked at me with a frosty smile.  “This has been most sagacious, Decius.  I know of no other man whose mind works like yours, sifting evidence and placing seemingly disparate facts together to construct a—how shall I put it?—a model of how things might have happened.  You should have been a philosopher.”  (pg. 157)

 

“Asklepiodes, you must let me kill you.”  (pg. 150)

    The Catiline Conspiracy was a slog for me, mostly because I was expecting it to be a Historical Mystery where I could tag along with Decius and try to solve the murders before he did.  That was a mistake on my part; there is very little Mystery-Investigating here.

 

    Cussing is almost non-existent —just two damns in the whole book.  There is one roll-in-the-hay, plus one “adult situation”, but neither is done lewdly.  I only spotted two typos, which is actually quite clean, since this particular version was published in 1991, and I doubt auto-correct was around back then.  One plot thread remained unresolved: a budding romantic relationship between Decius and one of the characters.  I imagine this gets further developed in the next book in the series.

 

    So learn from my misstep, and read this book for its most excellent Historical Fiction aspect.  Ignore the fact that our protagonist does almost zero sleuthing.  I suspect that John Maddox Roberts’ found his planned plotline was hampered by historical facts.  See the next section re this.

 

    7 Stars.  One last thing.  In doing research for this review, I was astounded to find that it is based on historical fact.  Catilina really did exist, and he really did head a failed attempt to seize control of the Roman Empire in 63 BCE.  Read the Wikipedia article on this here.  Catilina’s biography really does limit what John Maddox Roberts can do with the storytelling.