Rosemary Rowe Books in Order
Browse Rosemary Rowe books in order, including the Libertus mysteries and Cornish sagas, with summaries, series notes, and help deciding where to start.
Last updated: July 1, 2026
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Publication Order
36 books
The Girl from Penvarris
by Rosemary Rowe
1995
After her mother's death, Katie Warren gives up her dream of teaching and goes into service at the big house. Love, class divisions, and the Boer War keep pulling her and George Trevarnon apart.
The Tinner's Daughter
by Rosemary Rowe
1996
Carrie Trimble leaves Penvarris for service in Penzance, but new work does not quiet old loyalties or old loves. From clay country to cliff paths, she keeps searching for where she truly belongs.
Cornish Harvest
by Rosemary Rowe
1998
With war breaking over Cornwall, Lizzie Treloweth helps hold her large family together and trains as a nurse. Friendship, hard work, and heartbreak push her from Penzance into a very different wartime life.
The Germanicus Mosaic
by Rosemary Rowe
1999
A retired centurion is found murdered after a public feast, and mosaic-maker Libertus is asked to look into it. What begins as a local inquiry soon hints at buried grudges, household secrets, and possible political danger.
A Pattern of Blood
by Rosemary Rowe
2000
When a wealthy decurion is stabbed at the racecourse and then murdered at home, Libertus is ordered to investigate. The trail leads through Roman respectability into a tangle of secrets, status, and further death.
Murder in the Forum
by Rosemary Rowe
2001
At a banquet in Glevum, a feared imperial favorite dies in front of the whole town. Libertus must work out whether it was accident, poison, or something darker before panic and rumor do more damage.
Stormy Waters
by Rosemary Rowe
2001
Wilhelmina "Sprat" Nicholls has grown up hemmed in by family rules and village suspicion, but Denzil Vargo offers a glimpse of something freer. Then a long-hidden secret threatens both love and belonging.
The Silent Shore
by Rosemary Rowe
2001
After a shattering revelation, Sprat flees Cornwall for London and tries to reinvent herself. Yet new friends, old enemies, and the pull of home keep dragging her back toward the life she thought she'd left.
Teaching Tenses
by Rosemary Rowe
2002
A teaching guide for EFL and ESL classrooms that explains common English tenses and verb patterns clearly. It combines language analysis with suggested contexts, questions, and practical activities.
The Chariots of Calyx
by Rosemary Rowe
2002
Summoned to Londinium, Libertus is drawn into a murder case tangled up with corruption and the world of chariot racing. Far from home, he has to read a city where almost everyone is playing a part.
The Granite Cliffs
by Rosemary Rowe
2002
Victoria Flower, the vicar's daughter in a remote Cornish mining town, is trapped between classes and expectations. As romance and duty pull in different directions, she has to decide what kind of life she wants.
The Legatus Mystery
by Rosemary Rowe
2003
A visiting Roman ambassador is found murdered in the temple, then the body vanishes. As eerie signs terrify Glevum, Libertus races to find the killer before fear turns the town into a mob.
Writing a Novel
by Rosemary Rowe
2003
A practical handbook for novelists, from first idea to finished draft. Aitken covers planning, character, viewpoint, and the reader's expectations in a clear, workshop-style way.
Against the Tide
by Rosemary Rowe
2004
In 1914 Cornwall, twin sisters Winnie and Dora are pulled in different directions by family pressure, love, and war. Their father's fierce ambition and the changing world make every choice harder.
The Ghosts of Glevum
by Rosemary Rowe
2004
A banquet ends with the guest of honor dead and Marcus under arrest. Forced into hiding among the city's poor and forgotten, Libertus must clear his patron before both of them are destroyed.
Enemies of the Empire
by Rosemary Rowe
2005
A journey beyond the safety of Glevum pulls Libertus into a case shaped by Roman power and local resistance. Murder, suspicion, and divided loyalties make every alliance feel dangerous.
A Roman Ransom
by Rosemary Rowe
2006
Marcus's wife and small son vanish, and the kidnappers demand the release of a man no one expected to matter. Still weak from illness, Libertus must untangle ransom, murder, and old enmities before time runs out.
The Tregenza Girls
by Rosemary Rowe
2006
Blind Helena Tregenza, her impulsive sister Lucy, and their maid Maisie all face very different futures in Edwardian Cornwall. As war approaches, love and independence begin to look far more complicated.
A Coin for the Ferryman
by Rosemary Rowe
2007
As Libertus prepares for a family celebration, a battered corpse is discovered and its identity is hidden. With a festival looming and Marcus away, he must solve the case before the dead bring trouble to the living.
Death at Pompeia's Wedding
by Rosemary Rowe
2008
A society wedding turns deadly when the bride's father is poisoned after tasting the wine. Pompeia confesses, but Libertus suspects the truth is far messier than a simple act of guilt.
From Penvarris with Love
by Rosemary Rowe
2008
Apprentice seamstresses Maud and Belinda spend their days altering dresses and reading difficult customers. Then the First World War changes work, love, and freedom, forcing both young women to grow up fast.
A Cornish Maid
by Rosemary Rowe
2009
General maid Edith Trewin and Alicia Killivant, the daughter of the house, join forces when a kitchen maid disappears. War soon scatters their lives, turning a local mystery into a story of love, loss, and resilience.
Requiem for a Slave
by Rosemary Rowe
2010
A pie-seller is found dead in Libertus's workshop and his young slave Minimus has disappeared. With rumors of a strange green figure in the streets, Libertus must clear the boy and find the real killer.
The Vestal Vanishes
by Rosemary Rowe
2011
A former Vestal is due to arrive in Glevum as a bride, but her carriage turns up empty. Libertus follows the trail into religious fear, abduction, and a mounting sense that other women may be in danger.
A Whispering of Spies
by Rosemary Rowe
2012
When a treasure convoy is attacked and everyone assumes treachery, Libertus is caught in the net himself. To clear his name, he must outrun soldiers, spies, and a story that keeps changing.
Dark Omens
by Rosemary Rowe
2013
A missing client, a spoiled sacrifice, and news of an emperor's death leave Glevum on edge. As mutilated bodies appear, Libertus must cut through superstition and riot to find the human cause.
Masterclass
by Rosemary Rowe
2014
A hands-on guide to writing crime fiction, with advice on plots, suspects, clues, research, and twists. It is built to help writers shape a mystery that feels fair, tense, and satisfying.
The Fateful Day
by Rosemary Rowe
2015
With the empire in turmoil, a houseful of vanished servants and a dead gatekeeper pull Libertus into a dangerous investigation. Political fear and private motives collide in a case where nothing feels stable.
The Ides of June
by Rosemary Rowe
2016
A new regime in Rome leaves Marcus exposed, and an anonymous enemy begins making threats close to home. While trying to move Marcus's family to safety, Libertus uncovers murder and an older crime with long shadows.
The Blacksmith's Girl
by Rosemary Rowe
2017
In wartime Cornwall, Verity Tregorran witnesses something suspicious on the cliffs and fears spy work is underway. With Effie Dawes as her unlikely ally, she must balance danger, family scandal, and love.
Flowers for Miss Pengelly
by Rosemary Rowe
2018
When an unidentified dead man is linked to general maid Effie Pengelly, the questions start at once. Her growing bond with Constable Alexander Dawes unfolds against gossip, class barriers, and a local mystery.
The Price of Freedom
by Rosemary Rowe
2018
Sent to recover missing tax money and attend a wedding in his patron's place, Libertus expects a tedious duty. Instead he finds death, deception, and the kind of honor that can prove very costly.
Prisoner of Privilege
by Rosemary Rowe
2020
Now a reluctant councillor, Libertus is trapped between imperial suspicion and a sudden local killing. A feared investigation into treason quickly becomes personal, and his new status gives him less freedom, not more.
A Dreadful Destiny
by Rosemary Rowe
2021
A widowed Roman woman flees a cruel senator and asks Marcus for protection, placing everyone in danger. Libertus tries to help, but murder and family worries make the cost of defiance painfully real.
The Cornish Blacksmith's Daughter
by Rosemary Rowe
2022
Verity Tregorran, one of a blacksmith's many daughters, sees something alarming on the cliffs during the Great War. Teaming up with Effie Dawes, she chases the truth through grief, suspicion, and family scandal.
The Rewards of Treachery
by Rosemary Rowe
2023
Years after Libertus's disappearance, Junio is forced into the family's old role as investigator. A missing jewel, a vanished jeweller, and a string of killings draw him into betrayal, revenge, and danger close to home.
Where should I start?
If you want Roman mysteries: The Germanicus Mosaic → A Pattern of Blood → Murder in the Forum
If you want Cornish family sagas: The Girl from Penvarris → The Tinner's Daughter → Cornish Harvest
If you prefer later wartime Cornwall: A Cornish Maid → Flowers for Miss Pengelly → The Cornish Blacksmith's Daughter
If you want her practical writing side: Writing a Novel → Masterclass → Teaching Tenses
Author bio
Rosemary Rowe was born Rosemary Aitken, née Rowe, in Penzance, Cornwall, during the Second World War. She spent much of her childhood in New Zealand, where she was largely educated, and later studied at Sydney University and Victoria University in Wellington. That mix of Cornish roots and wider horizons stayed with her, and it helps explain why place feels so solid in her fiction.
Before novels took over, she built a long career teaching English language and communication. She worked in education for many years, lectured in Gloucestershire, and wrote a substantial body of practical textbooks for teachers and learners. She knows how language works, but she also understands how people use it when they are anxious, proud, in love, or trying to hide something.
That turned out to be very good training for a novelist.
Aitken later said she began writing seriously after an industrial accident forced her to leave her lecturing career. Her first historical novel, The Girl from Penvarris, appeared in 1995 and opened the Cornish Sagas, a sequence of stories set around a fictional Cornish village and the wider Penwith area. Those books draw on local history, family stories, and the lives of ordinary working people, especially young women trying to make room for themselves in a narrow world.
That family connection matters. Aitken was the granddaughter of a tin miner killed in the Levant mine disaster, and the mining communities in books like The Tinner's Daughter and Cornish Harvest feel lived in rather than simply researched. Her Cornish novels pay close attention to work, class, chapel culture, gossip, and the way war or bad luck can alter the course of a life almost overnight.
Under her maiden name Rosemary Rowe, she moved into Roman Britain and created the Libertus mysteries. Beginning with The Germanicus Mosaic, the series follows Libertus, a former slave and skilled mosaic-maker in Glevum, the Roman town that later became Gloucester. Books such as A Pattern of Blood, Murder in the Forum, and The Ides of June mix murder puzzles with Roman law, local religion, shifting imperial politics, and the ordinary business of getting through the day.
That blend is really her trademark.
Readers tend to come to Aitken and Rowe for the same reason, even though the books wear different clothes. Whether she is writing Edwardian Cornwall or second-century Britain, she is drawn to outsiders, working households, divided loyalties, and people caught between private feeling and public rules. She writes clearly, keeps the human stakes in view, and never loses interest in how communities actually function.
She has also written guides for writers and teachers, including Writing a Novel, Masterclass, and Teaching Tenses. That side of her work fits neatly with the fiction. She likes craft, structure, and practical clarity, whether she is building a mystery plot or explaining how a tense behaves in real speech.
After many years away, she returned to Cornwall in 2007 and settled near Truro and the Fal. It feels like a fitting homecoming. The landscape that shaped her childhood also shaped a large part of her writing life. She is also a mother and grandmother, with family ties that still stretch between Cornwall, New Zealand, and Cambridgeshire.
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