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Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones;
So let it be with Caesar. - Shakespeare (Julius Caesar)

The Ancient Romans didn't have Miranda rights and capital punishment in that age might have very well consisted of being torn apart by lions. Romans didn't carry personal firearms, but evidently could still find plenty of ways to dispose of their fellow human beings - from Emperors to lowly slaves. Their attitudes towards murder have long fascinated mystery writers. Contemporary mystery authors writing in this sub-genre include Steven Saylor, Ruth Downie, Lindsey Davis, John Maddox Roberts and Bruce MacBain. A few of their more popular titles available in Kindle editions include:

Roman Blood, by Steven Saylor. Minotaur Books, 2007. Print Length: 401 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (95 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99; Paperback $10.37. Text-to-Speech: Enabled. This is the first novel (in chronological order) in Saylor's Roma Sub Rosa mystery series.
"Saylor's remarkable first novel takes the reader deep into the political, legal and family arenas of ancient Rome, providing a stirring blend of history and mystery, well seasoned with conspiracy, passion and intrigue. In the steamy spring of 80 B.C. fledgling orator Cicero is preparing the legal defense of Sextus Roscius, a wealthy farmer accused of the murder of his father. Things look grim for Sextus; it is well-known that his father had threatened to disinherit him in favor of his younger half-brother. Cicero engages Gordianus to get at the truth of the matter, and while the orator practices powerful speech-making the investigator proves the aptness of his sobriquet, 'the finder.' Gordianus soon discovers that truth and mortal danger walk hand-in-hand through the twisting streets and the great forum of Rome. But he is unflinching in his quest for veritas in a story greatly enhanced by its vivid characters, including Cicero's clever slave Tiro; a mute street urchin and his widowed mother; a beautiful, enigmatic whore; Gordianus's spirited slave and lover, Bethesda; the aging dictator Sulla; and a dyspeptic but brilliant Cicero." - Publishers Weekly.

Medicus, by Ruth Downie. Bloomsbury, 2010. Print Length: 352 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (4 reviews). Kindle edition $0.00; Hardcover $9.73. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"Fans of Alexander McCall Smith will delight in this series debut set in Roman-occupied Britain and featuring wry army doctor Gaius Petreius Ruso. Newly divorced and burdened with the debts of his late father, Ruso finds himself in a ramshackle military outpost with miserable weather and minimal supplies. Ruso's new job gets off to a rocky start when he's called upon to examine the corpse of a young woman who drowned. Then, after a long shift of tending to the sick, the cranky but charitable doctor rescues an injured slave girl from her sadistic owner. His good deed earns Ruso unwanted attention from a hospital administrator whose attempts to cover his bald spot are both desperate and hilarious. It also lands the medicus in the middle of an investigation into the deaths of two local barmaids..." - Allison Block for Booklist.

The Silver Pigs, by Lindsey Davis. Minotaur Books, 2006. Print Length: 329 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (20 reviews). Kindle edition $2.99; Paperback $7.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"When Marcus Didius Falco, a Roman 'informer' who has a nose for trouble that's sharper than most, encounters Sosia Camillina in the Forum, he senses immediately all is not right with the pretty girl. She confesses to him that she is fleeing for her life, and Falco makes the rash decision to rescue her - a decision he will come to regret. For Sosia bears a heavy burden: as heavy as a pile of stolen Imperial ingots, in fact. Matters just get more complicated when Falco meets Helena Justina, a Senator's daughter who is connected to the very same traitors he has sworn to expose. Soon Falco finds himself swept from the perilous back alleys of Ancient Rome to the silver mines of distant Britain - and up against a cabal of traitors with blood on their hands and no compunction whatsoever to do away with a snooping plebe like Falco..." - Amazon.

Caveat Emptor, by Ruth Downie. Bloomsburg, 2010. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (4 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99; Hardcover $14.86. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"When tax collector Julius Asper goes missing, physician Gaius Petreius Ruso, who'd rather get medical work, reluctantly investigates in Downie's superb fourth historical set in second-century Roman Britain (after Persona Non Grata). Since Asper's brother and assistant, Julius Bericus, has also disappeared, some suspect the two men have run off with the emperor's tax money, but Ruso considers it more likely that robbers attacked the brothers on the road from the provincial town of Veralamium to Londinium. When the body of a man who fits Asper's description turns up in a Londinium alley, Ruso has a murder case on his hands, and must journey to Veralamium for answers. Downie excels in bringing the ancient world to life as well as making the attitudes and customs of its inhabitants accessible to a modern audience. She also succeeds at leavening the whodunit plot with flashes of humor, many stemming from her hero's British wife, Tilla." - Publishers Weekly.

Arms of Nemesis, by Steven Saylor. Minotaur Books, 2008. Print Length: 336 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (38 reviews). Kindle edition $6.99; Paperback $10.63. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"The hideously disfigured body was found in the atrium. The only clues are a blood-soaked cloak, and, carved into the stone at the corpse's feet, the word Sparta. The murdered man was the overseer of Marcus Crassus's estate, apparently killed by two runaway slaves bent on joining Spartacus's revolt. In response to the murder, the wealthy, powerful Crassus vows to honor an ancient law and kill his ninety-nine remaining slaves in three days. Now Gordianus the Finder has been summoned from Rome by a mysterious client to find out the truth about the murder before the three days are up." - Amazon.

SPQR I: The Kings Gambit, by John Maddox Roberts. Minotaur Books, 2010. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (32 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99; Paperback $10.17 Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"In this Edgar Award-nominated mystery, John Maddox Roberts takes readers back to a Rome filled with violence and evil. Vicious gangs ruled the streets of Crassus and Pompey, routinely preying on plebeian and patrician alike, so the garroting of a lowly ex-slaved and the disembowelment of a foreign merchant in the dangerous Subura district seemed of little consequence to the Roman hierarchy. But Decius Caecilius Metellus the Younger - highborn commander of the local vigiles - was determined to investigate. Despite official apathy, brazen bribes, and sinister threates, Decius uncovers a world of corruption at the highest levels of his government that threatens to destroy him and the government he serves." - Amazon.

Roman Games, by Bruce MacBain. Poisoned Pen Press, 2010. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (3 reviews). Kindle edition $6.95; Paperback $10.17. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"...Rome in 96 CE. It is time for the Ludi Romani (Roman Games), a festival that brings the business of the law courts to a halt for 15 days. In the midst of the festivities, Sextus Verpa, a notorious senator who is both an informer and a libertine, is stabbed to death in his bedroom. The cruel, insane emperor Domitian commands Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, better known as Pliny the Younger, to investigate. He races against time, hoping to save Verpa’s slaves from death in the arena. With assistance from the decadent poet Martial, the young senator and lawyer unravels a complex plot that involves Jews and Christians (atheists in the eyes of the Roman polytheists), Egyptian cultists, and a horoscope predicting the emperor’s death. Macbain, a professor of ancient history, vividly captures the violence and decadence of Roman life while enticing readers to turn the pages..." - Barbara Bibel for Booklist.

Two for the Lions, by Lindsey Davis. Mysterious Press, 2000. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (18 reviews). Kindle edition $6.99; Hardcover $18.85. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Marcus Didius Falco, Lindsey Davis's clever, ambitious, not-so-holy Roman man about town, is on special assignment for the Emperor Vespacian. This time he's tracking down tax fraud among the bestiarii, the slaughterers, and the lanistae, the suppliers of the gladiators and animals who provide the executions, spectacles, and entertainment for the Roman masses. Hoisted by his own tarnished petard, Falco is unwillingly partnered with his ex-boss Anacrites, Rome's chief spy, but that's the least of his problems; his investigation has hardly begun when he finds himself in the tunnels under the arena with a lion named Leonidas - a man-killer who may or may not have been switched with a tamer beast for a private party meant to impress a wealthy Senator's mistress..." - Amazon.com Review.