"Caesar and his troops have crossed the Rubicon and are marching on Rome. Pompey, his rival, is preparing to flee south with the Senate and his loyal troops, leaving the city unguarded, ungoverned, and on the verge of chaos. In the midst of the mounting panic, Pompey's cousin and protege, Numerius, is found murdered, garroted in the garden of Gordianus the Finder.

Enraged, Pompey demands that Gordianus investigate the murder and uncover the killer, taking his son-in-law hostage to force the reluctant Gordianus to comply. With one son a trusted aide of Caesar and his son-in-law held by Pompey, Gordianus must learn the secrets of a dead man and reveal his killer to protect his own family from being crushed by the opposing forces that will forever change the Roman world."--BOOK JACKET.