Bøger af Alan Scribner

"Mars the Avenger" is an historical mystery set in the year 158 CE, during the reign of Antoninus Pius, a period often called the height of the Roman Empire. It is also a daily life in ancient Rome and a sojourn into the world of Roman life, criminal law, police and courts. Marcus Flavius Severus, a judge in the court of the Prefect of the City of Rome, investigates the disappearance of a senator's wife and the finding of the body of a murdered man thrown on the steps of the Temple of Mars the Avenger. As the investigation unfolds, the two cases become connected to a love affair seventeen years before in the Roman orient. The investigation leads Judge Severus and his court and police aids through the City and the society of ancient Rome, into a slave market, wealthy villas, taverns, tenement apartment houses and the Circus Maximus. There are also scenes in Roman courts and the book is accurate as to the criminal laws of the time, including the use of judicial torture. All laws, rescripts and legal procedures are from Roman law sources. The novel also introduces a perspicacious new detective in the person of Roman judge Marcus Flavius Severus.

The Return of Spartacus is the fourth of the highly acclaimed and best selling historical mysteries set at the height of the Roman Empire. The year is now 165 CE, 2 years after Marcus Aurelius Betrayed, 4 years after The Cyclops Case and 7 years after Mars the Avenger. In The Return of Spartacus, Marcus Flavius Severus, Judge in the Court of the Urban Prefect in the City of Rome, is assigned to investigate murders of gladiators outside the arena, in the Ludus Magnus, the gladiator school in Rome. Severus is told he must put a stop to the killings. Severus is also told that there may be new Spartacus hidden among the gladiators. Whether a new Spartacus is now emerging almost 250 years after the original Spartacus revolt, and whether he is involved in the killings is not known. But Severus is told that any gladiator or slave revolt must be stopped in its tracks. The assignment is not an easy one for the judge. Two of his aides are former slaves and in sympathy with a slave revolt. Severus himself is conflicted by the definition of slavery in Roman law as an institution contrary to the Law of Nature and the pragmatics of slavery in the world he lives in. He also never goes to the gladiator games himself for his own reasons. Nevertheless, Severus must now enter the world of the gladiator. The gladiators, the owner of the gladiator troupe, the lanista who trains them, the Procurator who heads the school, the women who service the gladiators and ex-gladiators all must be investigated. Scenes are set throughout the City of Rome as the investigation requires, including a scene in the Flavian Amphitheater for a gladiatorial bout on the opening day of the Games of the Floralia Spring festival. There are also scenes in Severus' courtroom and the book is accurate as to the criminal laws of the time, including the use of judicial torture. All laws, rescripts and legal procedures are from Roman law sources. The Return of Spartacus is not only a mystery but also a daily life in ancient Rome, a sojourn into world of the Roman Empire and its courts, police and criminal laws. Alan Scribner was an Assistant District Attorney in the office of Frank S. Hogan in New York County and a criminal defense attorney. He is also an independent scholar of Ancient Rome and co-author of Anni Ultimi: A Roman Stoic Guide to Retirement, Old Age and Death. He is the author of Mars the Avenger, the Cyclops Case and Marcus Aurelius Betrayed, the first three Judge Marcus Flavius Severus mysteries in Ancient Rome.

Judge Severus returns in "The Cyclops Case". The year is now 161 CE, three years after the events in the highly acclaimed and best selling historical mystery "Mars the Avenger". The philosopher emperor Marcus Aurelius has been emperor for only a few months and Persia has invaded the Roman Empire. Marcus Flavius Severus, Judge in the Court of the Urban Prefect in the City of Rome is on vacation at the Bay of Naples with his family. This is the ancient Roman riviera, the Crater, famous for combining rampant pleasure-seeking and high culture with license and corruption. There, one night on the beach, the notorious General Cyclops, who is slated for recall to the army, has been stabbed through his good eye. Severus is assigned by the authorities in Rome to investigate. The Cyclops case launches Severus into a web of murder, robbery and counterfeiting, ranging in time from the Second Jewish Revolt 30 years in the past to Severus' present. It also puts him in the middle of an espionage duel involving the Roman and Persian secret services and leads to a series of killings which, like General Cyclops', are reminiscent of scenes out of Homer's Odyssey. Ironically, solving a murder leads to more murders to solve. As in "Mars the Avenger", "The Cyclops Case" is both a mystery and a daily life of ancient Rome, a sojourn into the world of Roman life and courts, police and criminal law. The investigation takes Severus and his aides into the society of Romans at their leisure. Scenes are set, among other places, in wealthy summer villas, a gambling hall and a brothel at the Crater to a bookstore, tenement apartment house and secret service headquarters in Rome. There are also scenes in Roman courts and the book is accurate as to the criminal laws of the time. All laws, rescripts and legal procedures are derived from Roman law sources, which are extensive for the 2nd Century CE.

Mission to Athens is the 5th in the highly acclaimed and best selling historical mystery series set at the height of the Roman Empire. The year is now 167 CE, two years after the events in The Return of Spartacus. In Mission to Athens Judge Severus delves into a famous historical cold case, a murder trial held in the Roman Senate in 160 CE. The defendant was Herodes Atticus, the richest and one of the most learned men in Greece, a member of the Senate himself, and a teacher and friend of both the emperor Marcus Aurelius and his younger co-emperor Lucius Verus. The victim was Herodes' pregnant young wife Regilla. Though acquitted by the Senate, many thought Herodes was guilty, saved by political influence and interference. To this day, scholars are uncertain about his culpability. Seven years after the trial, plague has broken out in Rome - the scourge known to history as the Antonine Plague. Judge Severus and his wife Artemisia decide to take the whole family to Athens, the city where Artemisia grew up and where Severus was a student. But before leaving, Judge Severus is summoned by the co-emperor Lucius Verus and appointed iudex selectus - special judge - to investigate a death in Athens of a Roman scholar, Gaius Gallus. Because Gallus was writing a book re-investigating the death of Regilla suspicion falls on Herodes Atticus. Though the Athenian police report concludes that Gallus died naturally, Gallus' wife believes her husband was murdered because he found new evidence against Herodes. Emperor Lucius Verus wants Severus to exonerate his friend Herodes of any involvement in the death of Gallus. Severus has an open mind about Herodes' guilt or innocence. He therefore must look into the death of Regilla, as well as the life of Gallus. Gallus, it turns out, was not only a scholar but a political activist, seeking to restore democracy to Athens, a city long granted independent status within the Roman Empire. The investigation takes Severus and his staff to different places and people in Athens. They also travel to Corinth where to pursue leads and attend the Isthmian Games. Severus' probing, however, stirs up trouble and marks him a target for assassination. All laws, rescripts and legal procedures are from Roman law sources. This book, as the others in the series, is not only a mystery, but a daily life of ancient Romans and a sojourn into the world of courts, police and criminal law of the period.

Judge Severus returns in "Marcus Aurelius Betrayed", the third of the highly acclaimed and best selling historical mysteries set at the height of the Roman Empire. The year is now 163 CE, 2 years after the events in "The Cyclops Case" and 5 years after the events in "Mars the Avenger". It is the third year of the reign of Marcus Aurelius. In "Marcus Aurelius Betrayed", Marcus Flavius Severus, Judge in the Court of the Urban Prefect in the City of Rome, is appointed by Emperor Marcus Aurelius as his special judge to travel to Alexandria to investigate an attempt to murder the Prefect of Egypt. Poison has been put in the Prefect's drinking cup at an orgy, but the poison was drunk by the guest of honor, an official of the Imperial Post, who was on the couch next to the Prefect. Judge Severus, with the assistance of his wife Artemisia, his private secretary Alexander and his court and police aides track down clues and witnesses in Alexandria in quest of a solution. On the way they encounter thefts of rare books from the Great Library of Alexandria, the production of fake antiquities and judicial murder. Eventually, through a number of plot twists and turns, the case is referred to the Emperor in Rome and the investigation continues in the capital of the Empire. As in "Mars the Avenger" and "The Cyclops Case", Marcus Aurelius Betrayed is both a mystery and daily life of Ancient Rome, a sojourn into the world of the Roman Empire and its courts, police and criminal law. The investigation takes Severus and his aides to the wonders in the Roman province of Egypt -- the Great Library, the Museum, the Pharos Lighthouse, the Pyramids -- as well as to the streets of Alexandria, a house of high class courtesans and army maneuvers in the field. There are also scenes in the city of Rome and in Roman courts. The book is accurate as to the criminal laws and procedures of the time. All laws, rescripts and legal procedures come from Roman law sources, which are extensive for the 2nd Century CE. A culminating trial is held in Rome before the Emperor Marcus Aurelius himself where Judge Severus unravels the mystery through a series of shrewd deductions.