.jpg) During a stop-over in the city of Smyrna in April of 83 AD a Roman citizen traveling in a caravan is brutally murdered. Since there are no Roman magistrates on the scene, Pliny the Younger takes charge of an investigation until the governor of the province arrives. He learns that the victim, Lucius Cornutus, had antagonized several people in the caravan. One owed him large sums of money from gambling debts. A group of women, devotees of a witch-like cult, may have killed him as a prelude to one of their rituals. Two of Cornutus' own slaves -- who were thought to have been locked up for the night -- were actually able to get out of confinement. Most surprising, Pliny learns that Cornutus was poisoned first, then knifed. Is he dealing with two killers or one? And what part does the beautiful blond slave girl play in all this? Here's what readers and reviewers are saying about All Roads Lead to Murder: [Bell's] writing is elegant in its simplicity. His opening sentence is perfect: 'I saw the slave girl stumble and knew the cup of wine she was carrying was going to land on her master.' And with that, we're off on the road to Rome in AD 83. I seldom read historical mysteries, but slipping into Albert's story is easier than slipping into a toga." Pat Browning "Albert Bell has written a wonderful book . . . . I heartily recommend it." Barbara D'Amato, author of the Cat Marsala series and other mysteries "This novel is blessed with a teasing plot and some lively characters but even this is not its chief strength. Like Steven Saylor this author has the ability to get under the skin of Ancient Rome . . . . This is a real historical novel!" MyShelf.com "An absolutely wonderful, engaging story . . . ." About.com "Even if you do not like historical mystery fiction, All Roads Lead to Murder is a very enjoyable tale that can compete on an even playing with modern day mysteries." Luke Croll "Watch out Steven Saylor, Lindsey Davis, and John Maddox Roberts! Albert Bell is well worth the read and much better than the legendary threesome." Teri Davis To read a sample chapter from this book, click here. Published by Ingalls Publishing Group/High Country 2002. To purchase a copy from the publisher, click here. To order a copy from Amazon, click here. If you prefer Barnes & Noble, click here. To order from Books-a-Million, click here. |
Mysteries 
While out hunting in the spring of 84 AD, Pliny finds a man's body. He appears lifeless, but Pliny cannot find a cause of death. He locks the body in a stable, but in the morning the body is gone. Strangers appear at Pliny's door, claiming to be the man's children. One sings siren songs and claims his "father" is immortal. Another may be an empusa, a shape-shifting, blood-drinking monster, ancient Rome's version of a vampire. Bodies pile up: a fifteen-year-old murder, a faceless man floating in the bay, and the "lifeless immortal," this time with his throat cut. Was he killed for his blood? Pliny and Tacitus must discover how the murders are connected to each other and to Pliny's nemesis, Marcus Aquilius Regulus.
In the summer of 83 AD Pliny the Younger receives a visit from the disguised emperor Domitian. Domitian is afraid that a previously unknown relative of Nero, supposedly the last of Julius Caesar's relatives, may be about to claim the throne. Or that Nero himself may be back from the dead. Domitian wants Pliny and his friend Tacitus to find out if any other descendants of Caesar survive, fifteen years after Nero's supposed death. Did Nero's mother, Agrippina the Younger, have any other children? What has become of her diary? Those questions seem somehow connected to the death of a mason working on Domitian's new house on the Palatine hill. When Pliny learns that the mason and his family were on the island of Pandateria while Agrippina was in exile there, he begins to make some surprising connections.
ce. When she discovers that her latest client's mother, a furniture industry heiress, died under mysterious circumstances that were never fully investigated, her personal commitment takes her farther than agency regulations allow. As long-concealed family secrets unravel, more is at stake than the job Sarah loves and the possibility of a fortune for her client. Someone will kill to protect what they've gained. The first in the "Wooden Shoe Mysteries."