Caroline Lawrence

From Morocco to Libya, from Ostia to Surrentum—Caroline Lawrence has traveled widely to give the Roman Mysteries unrivaled authenticity among historical novels. Her research trips have yielded a dazzling array of insights that allow Caroline to vividly reimagine the ancient world and to bring her characters and stories to life. This book gathers together anecdotes, factual information, and advice for children and their families looking to explore exotic locations, as well as offering compelling background to the real world behind the bestselling Roman Mysteries novels.

A mysterious widow pursues Flavia's father and a lion terrorizes the streets of Ostia in the sixth "Roman Mysteries" adventure. December, A.D. 79. It is the month of the Saturnalia, a festival when people do as they please, and anything can happen. When a Roman widow, Cartilia Poplica, shows unusual interest in Flavia's father, Captain Geminus, Flavia decides she must find out what Cartila's motives really are. To do so, she finds she must perform twelve tasks, just like the Greek hero Hercules. And what is more, there's a lion loose in the streets of Ostia.

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.