Leonidas the Gladiator Mysteries

Leonidas, champion gladiator of Rome, is set free from the games by a mysterious benefactor who grants him freedom, a place to live, and Cassia, a scribe, to look after him.

But the benefactor is only so generous—Leonidas must pay his own way and Cassia’s, which means hiring himself out. The sharp-witted Cassia quickly lands him a post as a bodyguard, escorting a retired senator to Ostia.

The journey soon turns deadly, as Leonidas and Cassia find themselves squarely in the middle of intrigue that reaches from the slums of the Subura to the Palatine Hill and the emperor Nero himself.

Leonidas, champion gladiator of Rome, is set free from the games by a mysterious benefactor who grants him freedom, a place to live, and Cassia, a scribe, to look after him in this historical mystery series by Ashley Gardner.

Leonidas’s former trainer, Aemil, asks him to look into the disappearances of gladiators from his ludus. Leonidas and Cassia investigate, and soon uncover gruesome murders involving some of the wealthiest citizens of Rome.

Leonidas pits his skills against an unknown killer who hunts gladiators from the back lanes of the Subura to prestigious villas atop Rome’s hills. He and Cassia must succeed in uncovering the murderer’s identity before Nero grows impatient and makes Leonidas pay for the chaos the killer has rained down upon his city.

Leonidas, champion gladiator of Rome, is set free from the games by a mysterious benefactor who grants him freedom, a place to live, and Cassia, a scribe, to look after him in this historical mystery series by Ashley Gardner.

Leonidas is coerced into a dice game at his local popina, with a stranger who turns out to not be such a stranger after all. His presence puts all around him in danger, and Leonidas struggles to keep the man’s identity secret.

Leonidas has no wish to be caught up in this trouble–he’s about to begin working as a builder, his ticket out of life as a gladiator and bodyguard.

The next morning at the building site, Leonidas almost immediately stumbles across a valuable ring buried in the mud, a ring that has the potential to change the destiny of Rome. Nero commands Leonidas and Cassia to uncover everything about this ring, including who owned it and how it had come to be where it was found. They will not be allowed to fail.

The ring proves to be only the tip of the troubles Leonidas uncovers, with danger from the Emporium to the Esquiline and some that visits Leonidas and Cassia very close to home.