As a fan of historical fiction with a taste for a bit of action from time to time, here are ten novels set in Roman times I’ve read. Some are part of a series (unlike me, you might want to start from the beginning of the series!), some are standalone. Links from the title will take you to my full review.
The Emperor’s Shield (Legionary #9) by Gordon Doherty – 386 AD. The Eastern Roman Empire faces multiple threats meaning Pavo, a veteran of the legions, is called back into service
Death to the Emperor (Eagles of the Empire #21) by Simon Scarrow – Britain, 60 AD. The Roman Empire’s hold on the province is increasingly fragile as tribes implacably opposed to Rome grow more cunning in their attacks on the legions
Terra Incognita by Simon Turney – 61 AD.Emperor Nero tasks members of his Praetorian Guard to discover the source of the River Nile
Sword of the War God by Tim Hodkinson – 436 AD. The Huns, led by the fearsome Attila, once Rome’s allies are now its deadliest enemies
The Iron Way (Sarmation Triology #2) by Tim Leach – 180 AD. Bound by an oath to serve as part of the Roman army for twenty-five years, the Sarmatians find themselves guarding one of the forts along Hadrian’s Wall against the threat of attack from tribes to the north
Masters of Rome (Rise of Emperors #2) by Gordon Doherty & Simon Turney – 308 AD. Childhood friends, Constantine and Maxentius compete for the imperial throne
The Fort (City of Victory #1) by Adrian Goldsworthy – 105 AD. The Dacian kingdom and Rome are at peace, but no one thinks that it will last
Rivals of the Republic (Blood of Rome #1) by Annelise Freisenbruch – 70 BC. Roman high society hums with gossip following the suspicious suicide of a prominent Roman senator and the discovery of the body of a Vestal Virgin in the River Tiber
The Wolf Den by Elodie Harper – 74 AD. Amara was once a beloved daughter, until her father’s death plunged her family into penury. Now she is a slave in Pompeii’s most infamous brothel
Any recommendations for other novels set in Roman times?
Why not join in too? Leave a comment with your link at Taking on a World of Words and then go blog hopping!
What I’m Currently Reading
I’m reading Cairo Gambiton my Kindle, a physical copy of historical crime mystery The Body in the Ice and I’m listening to the audiobook of The Summer House Party (the last two both on my 20 Books of Summer 2025 list).
Cairo Gambit by S. W. Perry (Corvus via NetGalley)
In the heat of the desert, will the trail go cold?
Cairo, 1938. Archie Nevenden is many things: amateur archaeologist; theatre impresario; absent father; potential defector. And now, he’s a missing person.
His daughter, Prim, hasn’t seen him for nearly fifteen years. But she’s never given up on him, and now she’s on her way to Cairo to assist in the search.
Harry Taverner claims to work for the British Council, but Prim knows there’s more to it. He clearly has a theory about what happened to Archie, one she’s not going to like.
As Prim and Harry uncover the layers of Archie’s existence in Cairo, they find themselves drawn in to more than one conspiracy. And soon they’ll discover that Archie may not be the only one in danger…
In the gloriously hot summer of 1936, a group of people meet at a country house party. Within three years, England will be at war, but for now, time stands still.
Dan Ranscombe is clever and good-looking, but he resents the wealth and easy savoir faire of fellow guest, Paul Latimer. Surely a shrewd girl like Meg Slater would see through that, wouldn’t she? And what about Diana, Paul’s beautiful sister, Charles Asher, the Jewish outsider, Madeleine, restless and dissatisfied with her role as children’s nanny? And artist Henry Haddon, their host, no longer young, but secure in his power as a practiced seducer.
As these guests gather, none has any inkling the choices they make will have fateful consequences, lasting through the war and beyond. Or that the first unforeseen event will be a shocking death.
Christmas Day, Kent, 1796. On the frozen fields of Romney Marsh stands New Hall; silent, lifeless, deserted. In its grounds lies an unexpected Christmas offering: a corpse, frozen into the ice of a horse pond.
It falls to the Reverend Hardcastle, justice of the peace in St Mary in the Marsh, to investigate. But with the victim’s identity unknown, no murder weapon and no known motive, it seems an impossible task. Working alongside his trusted friend Amelia Chaytor, and new arrival Captain Edward Austen, Hardcastle soon discovers there is more to the mystery than there first appears.
With the arrival of an American family torn apart by war, intent on reclaiming their ancestral home, a French spy returning to the scene of his crimes, ancient loyalties and new vengeance combine to make Hardcastle and Mrs Chaytor’s attempts to discover the secret of New Hall all the more dangerous.
‘If you cannot speak truth at a beheading, when can you speak it?’
England, May 1536. Anne Boleyn is dead, decapitated in the space of a heartbeat by a hired French executioner. As her remains are bundled into oblivion, Thomas Cromwell breakfasts with the victors. The blacksmith’s son from Putney emerges from the spring’s bloodbath to continue his climb to power and wealth, while his formidable master, Henry VIII, settles to short-lived happiness with his third queen, Jane Seymour.
Cromwell is a man with only his wits to rely on; he has no great family to back him, no private army. Despite rebellion at home, traitors plotting abroad and the threat of invasion testing Henry’s regime to breaking point, Cromwell’s robust imagination sees a new country in the mirror of the future. But can a nation, or a person, shed the past like a skin? Do the dead continually unbury themselves? What will you do, the Spanish ambassador asks Cromwell, when the king turns on you, as sooner or later he turns on everyone close to him? (Review to follow)
A former First World War field hospital, the spooky old mansion at Devil’s Neck attracts spirit-seekers from far and wide.
Illusionist-turned-sleuth Joseph Spector knows the house of old. With stories spreading of a phantom soldier making mischief, he joins a party of visitors in search of the truth.
But the house, located on a lonely causeway, is quickly cut off by floods. The stranded visitors are soon being killed off one by one.
With old ally Inspector Flint working on a complex case that has links to Spector’s investigation, the two men must connect the dots before Devil’s Neck claims Spector himself as its next victim.
What Cathy Read Next... 