SPQR (series) - Definition and Overview

The SPQR series is a collection of detective stories by John Maddox Roberts set in the time of the Roman Republic. SPQR (the original title of the first book, until the sequels came out) is a Latin acronym for "Senatus Populusque Romanus" ("the Senate and People of Rome"), the official motto of the Republic.

The stories are told in first-person form by Senator Decius Caecilius Metellus the Younger (born 95 BC, "the same year as Cato"), nephew of Metellus Pius and member of an important family of the Roman Senate. The stories are told in flashback-form by the old Decius, writing during the reign of Augustus Caesar. The stories range from 70 BC (The King's Gambit) to 22 BC ("The King of Sacrifices").

Decius' companions include his slaves Cato, Cassandra, and Hermes; his friends, the Greek gladiator physician Asklepidotes and the gangster Titus Annius Milo; and his staunch enemies, the siblings Clodia and Clodius. Along the way, he is often helped by his father, Cicero, and a young Julius Caesar. In later books, Decius is betrothed to the (fictional) niece of Caesar's, Julia Caesaris. The dates are all listed at the end of each book in the ab urbe condita calendar system.

The series includes (in chronological order):

• I: The King's Gambit (70 BC) - Decius uncovers a plot to subvert Lucullus' army in the war against Mithridates
• II: The Catiline Conspiracy (63-62 BC) - Decius uncovers Catiline's plot to voerthrow the Republic
• III: The Sacrilige (62 BC) - Decius investigates Clodius' sacrilige of the Bona Dea rites
• IV: The Temple of the Muses (60 BC) - Decius investiagets the murder of a philosopher at the Library of Alexandria
• "The Statuette of Rhodes" (60 BC) - Decius finds a corpse on the base of the Colossus of Rhodes
• V: Saturnalia (59 BC) - Decius investiagets the murder of his kinsman Metellus Celer
• VI: Nobody Loves a Centurion (58 BC) - Decius investiagets the murder of a centurion of the 10th Legion at the start of the Gallic Wars
• VII: The Tribune's Curse (55 BC) - Decius investiagets the murder of a tribune who curses Crassus on his way to Parthia
• VIII: The River God's Vengeance
• IX: The Princess and the Pirates
• "Mightier Than the Sword" - Decius discovers a corpse while performing his duties as aedile
• "The Etruscan House" - Decius' investigates a senator's murder
• X: A Point of Law - unknown
• "Venus in Pearls" (45 BC) - Caesar hires Decius to locate his stolen breastplate before his Pompeian triumph
• "The Will" (44 BC) - Decius investigates Caesar's will following his assassination
• "The King of Sacrifices" (22 BC) - Livia hires Decius to investigate the murder of Julia's lover
• "An Academic Question" - unknown