Marcus Corvinus Books in Order
Part ofDavid Wishart Books in OrderSee David Wishart's Marcus Corvinus books in order, with quick summaries, series background, and clear advice on where to start reading first.
Last updated: July 10, 2026
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Marcus Corvinus books in publication order
21 books
Ovid
by David Wishart
1995
Asked to bring Ovid's ashes home to Rome, Corvinus starts pulling at a scandal the powerful want left buried. The deeper he digs, the more dangerous the truth becomes.
Germanicus
by David Wishart
1997
Empress Livia swears she did not kill Germanicus and orders Corvinus to find out who did. That sends him straight back into imperial secrets, old fears, and the aftershocks of a famous death.
Sejanus
by David Wishart
1998
Back in Rome after years away, Corvinus receives a letter from the dead empress Livia warning that Sejanus must be stopped. The case drags him into a dangerous web of power, memory, and revenge.
The Lydian Baker
by David Wishart
1998
In Athens, Corvinus acts for his stepfather in the hunt for a vanished solid-gold statue tied to Delphi. The deal drops him into black-market intrigue, rival collectors, and murder.
Old Bones
by David Wishart
2000
Corvinus does not believe his stepfather is a killer, but Priscus is found standing over a corpse with the knife in his hand. A miserable holiday of tomb-bashing turns into a race to prove his innocence.
Last Rites
by David Wishart
2001
After the all-female rites of the Good Goddess, a young Vestal is found with her throat cut. Corvinus is brought in quietly to prevent scandal, but the truth lies inside a knot of deceit and danger.
White Murder
by David Wishart
2002
When star charioteer Pegasus is found stabbed beside a wineshop, the easy answer is theft. Corvinus is not convinced, and the trail takes him deep into the scams, loyalties, and rivalries of Roman racing.
A Vote for Murder
by David Wishart
2003
A country break ends fast when Corvinus is asked to investigate the murder of a candidate in the coming censor's election. What looks like straightforward political violence keeps twisting into something harder to pin down.
Parthian Shot
by David Wishart
2004
Corvinus hates politics, which is bad news when he is drawn into an attack on the Parthian prince Phraates. A murder inside the visiting delegation turns the case into a diplomatic mess with real danger for Perilla.
Food for the Fishes
by David Wishart
2005
A rich fish-farm owner is found drowned in one of his own eel tanks, and not many mourn him. Corvinus follows the grudges through family, servants, and neighbours, while Perilla develops a distracting taste for gambling.
In at the Death
by David Wishart
2007
Asked to look into an apparent suicide, Corvinus soon doubts the obvious story. As he works through friends, relatives, and enemies, the case opens into something both personal and political.
Illegally Dead
by David Wishart
2008
A letter from Marilla sends Corvinus rushing to Castrimoenium, where a sick old man may have been poisoned. Everyone has an opinion, nobody agrees on murder, and the clues are buried in family tension.
Bodies Politic
by David Wishart
2010
A letter from the dead Sertorius Macro asks Corvinus to clear his name after a forced suicide. The trail leads into deadly imperial politics, near escapes, and unrest in Alexandria.
No Cause for Concern
by David Wishart
2012
Eutacticus wants Corvinus to find his missing stepson, who supposedly ran off with an acting troupe. Then the boy's body turns up, and a simple favour becomes a murder case with far nastier edges.
Solid Citizens
by David Wishart
2013
During a holiday in the Alban Hills, Corvinus is asked to investigate the beating death of a respectable local politician found behind a brothel. Small-town gossip, feuds, and secrets make the case much dirtier than it first looks.
Finished Business
by David Wishart
2014
What looks like an accidental death, a rich man crushed by falling masonry, quickly turns sour. Corvinus finds himself inside a vicious family tangle, and worse, under the eye of the dangerously unpredictable Caligula.
Foreign Bodies
by David Wishart
2016
At Claudius's request, Corvinus travels to Lugdunum to investigate the murder of a Gallic wine merchant. Far from home and surrounded by guarded locals, he has to solve a case nobody seems eager to explain.
Trade Secrets
by David Wishart
2016
A murdered man's sister asks Corvinus for help, then another corpse appears in the Pollio library gardens. Two cases that look separate begin to point toward something larger, darker, and much more connected.
Family Commitments
by David Wishart
2017
When Bathyllus's long-lost brother turns up, Corvinus is pulled into a messy case involving a dead partner, old crimes, and dangerous politics. His mother's suspicion that Priscus is having an affair only adds to the chaos.
Going Back
by David Wishart
2018
Claudius sends Corvinus to an estate near Carthage after an ex-praetor is found murdered. The case gets trickier when the dead man's family seem far more interested in their own grudges than in seeing justice done.
Dead Mens Sandals
by David Wishart
2020
Crime boss Eutacticus calls in a favour and sends Corvinus to Brundisium to investigate the murder of a fellow gangster. Working among the city's criminal elite, he has to find the killer without getting swallowed by the underworld himself.
Marcus Corvinus books in chronological order

Ovid
by David Wishart
1995Marcus Corvinus, Book 1
Germanicus
by David Wishart
1997Marcus Corvinus, Book 2
Sejanus
by David Wishart
1998Marcus Corvinus, Book 3
The Lydian Baker
by David Wishart
1998Marcus Corvinus, Book 4
Old Bones
by David Wishart
2000Marcus Corvinus, Book 5
Last Rites
by David Wishart
2001Marcus Corvinus, Book 6
White Murder
by David Wishart
2002Marcus Corvinus, Book 7
A Vote for Murder
by David Wishart
2003Marcus Corvinus, Book 8
Parthian Shot
by David Wishart
2004Marcus Corvinus, Book 9
Food for the Fishes
by David Wishart
2005Marcus Corvinus, Book 10
In at the Death
by David Wishart
2007Marcus Corvinus, Book 11
Illegally Dead
by David Wishart
2008Marcus Corvinus, Book 12
Bodies Politic
by David Wishart
2010Marcus Corvinus, Book 13
No Cause for Concern
by David Wishart
2012Marcus Corvinus, Book 14
Solid Citizens
by David Wishart
2013Marcus Corvinus, Book 15
Finished Business
by David Wishart
2014Marcus Corvinus, Book 16
Trade Secrets
by David Wishart
2016Marcus Corvinus, Book 17
Foreign Bodies
by David Wishart
2016Marcus Corvinus, Book 18
Family Commitments
by David Wishart
2017Marcus Corvinus, Book 19
Going Back
by David Wishart
2018Marcus Corvinus, Book 20
Dead Mens Sandals
by David Wishart
2020Marcus Corvinus, Book 21
Series background & context
The Marcus Corvinus books are historical mysteries set in the Roman world of the first century AD, but they do not read like stiff costume drama. At the centre is Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus, a well-born Roman with sharp instincts, good connections, and a strong preference for wine, comfort, and minding his own business. Naturally, murder keeps getting in the way.
Corvinus is not a professional investigator, and that matters. He gets pulled into cases because of family ties, social rank, political pressure, old debts, or sheer bad luck. That gives the series its voice. He is funny, often reluctant, and very aware that asking the wrong question can get a man ruined or killed. His wife, Rufia Perilla, is just as important. She is steadier, clever in different ways, and often the one who sees the shape of a case before Marcus does.
Rome is more than a backdrop here.
Wishart uses the city, and the wider empire, as a lived-in world of gossip, clients, freedmen, dinner parties, back-street businesses, and dangerous favours. Some books stay close to imperial politics, while others move into chariot racing, local elections, provincial towns, crime networks, and family scandals. As the series goes on, the map widens to places like Athens, Alexandria, Gaul, North Africa, and Brundisium, but the pressure stays the same: people lie to protect money, status, family, and survival.
The early novels, especially Ovid, Germanicus, and Sejanus, are built around real historical puzzles. Later books mix those larger public mysteries with tighter whodunits such as White Murder, Last Rites, and Food for the Fishes. That blend is a big part of the appeal. You get the pull of real Roman history, but you also get clean murder setups, awkward family scenes, and a narrator who can be dryly hilarious one moment and badly out of his depth the next.
The books are best read in order, because Marcus and Perilla's life changes over time and the supporting cast keeps growing around them. Old cases echo forward, the household expands, and the political weather shifts as emperors rise and fall. Even when a single mystery stands on its own, the larger pleasure comes from watching the family, friendships, and empire keep moving.
If you want ancient Rome with dust, noise, jokes, and real stakes, this is the shape of the series. It is clever without being fussy, historically grounded without feeling like homework, and full of cases where the truth is tangled up with power.
Edited by
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