Alan Scribner Books in Order

Drawing on Roman Stoicism and Seneca’s letters, this book considers retirement, aging, and death as connected philosophical challenges. It offers readers a framework for thinking about life’s final years and approaching their limits with greater perspective.

In second-century Rome, judge Marcus Flavius Severus investigates a senator's missing wife and a body discovered in the temple of Mars. The case draws him back to an old love affair and events from his years in the eastern provinces.

A Roman judge's holiday ends when a general known as Cyclops is found stabbed through his remaining eye. Marcus Flavius Severus investigates a conspiracy involving counterfeit money and rival spies, with killings that seem to echo the Odyssey.

Emperor Marcus Aurelius sends Marcus Flavius Severus to Alexandria after a poisoning intended for Egypt's prefect kills another official. The judge's investigation leads through stolen library texts, forged antiquities and abuses of justice that threaten more than one life.

Gladiators are being murdered outside the arena, raising fears of another slave rebellion in Rome. Marcus Flavius Severus investigates the killings while confronting his own conscience about slavery and the experiences of the former slaves who assist him.

Escaping Rome's plague with his family, Marcus Flavius Severus travels to Athens to investigate a scholar's death. The case reopens suspicions around an earlier murder, placing the judge's search for truth against an emperor's wish to protect a friend.

Returning to Rome after the plague, Marcus Flavius Severus investigates a strangled synagogue official and a stolen sacred chalice. Water theft and the death of a protected witness complicate his work as seemingly separate cases begin demanding closer scrutiny.

Retirement offers Marcus Flavius Severus little peace when a Persian assassin appears to be targeting Rome's emperors. With Lucius Verus already dead under suspicious circumstances, the former judge must determine whether Marcus Aurelius is next in line.

A retired Roman judge revisits a ship captain's conviction for deliberately wrecking a vessel carrying valuable silk. A confession extracted through torture and the deaths of witnesses push Marcus Flavius Severus toward a hidden organizer behind the crime.

Three people are murdered on successive days in Rome, their throats cut and their bodies marked with numbers. Called out of retirement, Marcus Flavius Severus must discover what connects a charioteer, a courtesan and a shoemaker before the pattern continues.

While investigating a collapsed apartment building, Judge Severus is assigned to uncover seditionists plotting in Rome. With Marcus Aurelius away and a rebel general claiming the throne, his search for a hidden leader carries consequences for the empire.

Judge Severus joins a tribunal trying crime-family leaders for the murder of a Roman judge. Accusers and defendants alike have reasons to lie, making the search for a just verdict a contest of evidence, rhetoric, and hidden loyalties.

A six-person crew travels to a distant star system to prevent war between rival human colonies. Conflicting political and religious ideals, alongside a silent alien observer, test the imperial mission’s ability to turn understanding into a workable peace.

Rome’s prestigious Athenaeum becomes the setting for blackmail, sexual crimes, and murder. Judge Severus is drawn into the investigation through his mathematically gifted son, uncovering the human failings beneath an institution devoted to scholarship and advanced learning.