Books in The Roman Mysteries series

A desperate quest begins in the Romano-Egyptian port of Alexandria, the magnificent city of the great lighthouse, the Library, and the tomb of Alexander the Great. Codes, riddles, anagrams, and hieroglyphics lead Flavia and her friends down the river Nile to pyramids and sphinxes, temples and tombs, crocodiles and hippos. But what lies at the end of their long journey? Treasure, or death?

Joining four adventurers on a quest across the Roman province of Mauretania, this novel follows the young detectives Flavia, Jonathan, Nubia, and Lupus from modern-day Libya to Morocco. After the Delphic Oracle prophesies that whoever owns the valuable gemstone known as Nero’s Eye will rule the Roman Empire, the Emperor Titus becomes determined to claim it for himself. As Flavia and her friends pursue the jewel on his behalf, they encounter slave-traders, pantomime actors, a wild animal stampede, and more during their exciting voyage of discovery.

This exciting adventure recreates the siege of Masada and reveals important developments in Jonathan's struggle with his guilt over past events. Also, there's terrific insight into the workings of the Roman legal system in a page-turning court room drama. As ever, Caroline Lawrence spings new surprises for all the characters and provides motives, means and opportunities for one determined felon. And, as ever, it's up to the four young detectives to crack the case.

It's June A.D. 80. Everyone is thinking about love at the lavish Villa Limona, where friends Flavia, Jonathan, Lupus, and Nubia have come to visit for the summer. But their host suspects that there's a poisoner among the houseguests, and the friends are asked to investigate. Faced with many distractions, including the arrival of Flavia's betrothed, can they set a trap to catch the culprit?

In the fifth volume of the popular series of historical mysteries, a ragged stranger and the prospect of losing her family's fortune lead Flavia Gemina and her friends, Jonathan, Lupus, and Nubia to a seaside villa. There, they discover a shipwreck and sunken treasure--and that someone else is after the treasure, too. As they solve the riddle of the wreck, the four friends also stumble acorss the terrible mystery of Lupus's past.

A desperate quest begins in the Romano-Egyptian port of Alexandria, the magnificent city of the great lighthouse, the Library, and the tomb of Alexander the Great. Codes, riddles, anagrams, and hieroglyphics lead Flavia and her friends down the river Nile to pyramids and sphinxes, temples and tombs, crocodiles and hippos. But what lies at the end of their long journey? Treasure or death?

Flavia Gemina is brilliant at finding things, so it's natural for her to solve mysteries. The daughter of a ship's captain living in Ostia, the port of Rome, in AD 79, she acquires a gang of three friends who help her. There is Jonathan, the Jewish boy (and secretly a Christian); Nubia, the African slave girl; and Lupus, a mute beggar boy. Together they work out who severed the heads of the watchdogs that guard people's homes, and why he did it. Caroline Lawrence is a terrific storyteller and a delightfully readable and accessible writer with characters that children will relate to. Her picture of daily life in Ancient Rome is wonderfully vivid. But The Thieves of Ostia is first and foremost a whodunnit, with lots of twist and cliffhangers—and a mystery for the reader to solve.

For as long as she could remember, Ab and her family had spent summers on Penobscot Island, off the coast of Maine – and far away from the sun-baked streets of their home in New York City. And every year, she spent time with Bean Carver who was her best friend, even if he didn’t seem to notice she was a girl. This year, Bean tells Ab that the Moses Webster House where she is staying with her parents is haunted, and the two friends become immersed in the history of the house and solving a mystery involving missing treasure, stolen paintings, a wailing apparition, and a tragic shipwreck. The discovery of certain ancient devices hidden in the walls and floors of the old house lead them deeper and deeper through a web of secrets and peril, closer and closer to the chilling truth of the missing grave.

It is August, A.D. 81. Presumed dead by their families, Flavia and her friends feel very far from home. News of more kidnappings in Italia reaches them, and when they discover one of Miriam's twins is among the missing, the four detectives set out for Halicarnassus in the Roman province of Asia. There they find a countryside full of prophets who claim to heal the sick and cure the lame, but who may simply be tricksters and villains in disguise. Once again, the detectives' loyalties are tested as they are confronted with hopes for the future and grim legacies of the past.