February, AD 80. An imperial messenger summons Jonathan's father to Rome, where the fever which started in Ostia is now threatening to become a plague. Jonathan and his three friends go, too, and need to use all their skills to solve a dangerous mystery for the Emperor Titus. Since the first title, The Thieves of Ostia, was published in September 2001, the series has got off to an amazing start. The first six titles have already been sold in ten languages and the author has had a huge response from children at her many speaking engagements and through her Roman Mysteries website.

 

 

This book is part of a book series called The Roman Mysteries .

This book is aimed at Young Adult readers. The term Young Adult (YA) is used for books which have the following characteristics: (1) aimed at ages 12-18 years, US grades 7-12, UK school years 8-15, (2) around 50-75k words long, (3) main character is aged 12-18 years, (4) topics include self-reflection, internal conflict vs external, analyzing life and its meaning, (5) point of view is often in the first person, and (6) swearing, violence, romance and sexuality are allowed. This book was published in 2004 by Orion Publishing Co .

Caroline Lawrence is American. She lives with her husband in London.