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Marcus Corvinus Books in Order

Part ofDavid Wishart Books in Order

See 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

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21 books

1

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.

2

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.

3

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.

4

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.

5

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.

6

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.

7

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.

8

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.

9

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.

10

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.

11

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.

12

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.

13

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.

14

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.

15

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.

16

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.

17

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.

18

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.

19

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.

20

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.

21

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

  1. Book cover for "Ovid"

    Ovid

    by David Wishart

    1995Marcus Corvinus, Book 1
  2. Book cover for "Germanicus"

    Germanicus

    by David Wishart

    1997Marcus Corvinus, Book 2
  3. Book cover for "Sejanus"

    Sejanus

    by David Wishart

    1998Marcus Corvinus, Book 3
  4. Book cover for "The Lydian Baker"

    The Lydian Baker

    by David Wishart

    1998Marcus Corvinus, Book 4
  5. Book cover for "Old Bones"

    Old Bones

    by David Wishart

    2000Marcus Corvinus, Book 5
  6. Book cover for "Last Rites"

    Last Rites

    by David Wishart

    2001Marcus Corvinus, Book 6
  7. Book cover for "White Murder"

    White Murder

    by David Wishart

    2002Marcus Corvinus, Book 7
  8. Book cover for "A Vote for Murder"

    A Vote for Murder

    by David Wishart

    2003Marcus Corvinus, Book 8
  9. Book cover for "Parthian Shot"

    Parthian Shot

    by David Wishart

    2004Marcus Corvinus, Book 9
  10. Book cover for "Food for the Fishes"

    Food for the Fishes

    by David Wishart

    2005Marcus Corvinus, Book 10
  11. Book cover for "In at the Death"

    In at the Death

    by David Wishart

    2007Marcus Corvinus, Book 11
  12. Book cover for "Illegally Dead"

    Illegally Dead

    by David Wishart

    2008Marcus Corvinus, Book 12
  13. Book cover for "Bodies Politic"

    Bodies Politic

    by David Wishart

    2010Marcus Corvinus, Book 13
  14. Book cover for "No Cause for Concern"

    No Cause for Concern

    by David Wishart

    2012Marcus Corvinus, Book 14
  15. Book cover for "Solid Citizens"

    Solid Citizens

    by David Wishart

    2013Marcus Corvinus, Book 15
  16. Book cover for "Finished Business"

    Finished Business

    by David Wishart

    2014Marcus Corvinus, Book 16
  17. Book cover for "Trade Secrets"

    Trade Secrets

    by David Wishart

    2016Marcus Corvinus, Book 17
  18. Book cover for "Foreign Bodies"

    Foreign Bodies

    by David Wishart

    2016Marcus Corvinus, Book 18
  19. Book cover for "Family Commitments"

    Family Commitments

    by David Wishart

    2017Marcus Corvinus, Book 19
  20. Book cover for "Going Back"

    Going Back

    by David Wishart

    2018Marcus Corvinus, Book 20
  21. Book cover for "Dead Mens Sandals"

    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

Richard Reis

Software engineer whose passion for tracking book recommendations from podcasts inspired the creation of MRB.

Anurag Ramdasan

Lead investor at 3one4 Capital whose startup expertise and love for books helped shaped MRB and its growth.

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