83 books like Claudius Series

Reading Graves’ biography, I get the sense of not just his wry humour but of his enduring pain. When he covers his First World War service, his jokes are cracked out of exasperation at the orders he receives that led to a succession of “bloody balls-ups,” and retold through a wince.

Graves’ biography has been described as “a version of events that told the poetic truth about his experiences…rather than being primarily fact-driven.” I believe all biographies are a form of fiction as our own memories are more often a product of our imagination than photographic recall.

Graves’ poetic retelling allows a more universal resonance beyond the trenches of the Somme than if he just stuck to the facts of that time and place, and resonated more for me because of this. 

Suetonius wrote his short biographies of Julius Caesar and the following eleven Roman Emperors sometime in the second century AD, probably during the reign of Hadrian.

Although it is biased in order to keep in the good books of the Emperor, it is a great source for the history of the early empire. More importantly though, it is a damned good read, full of gossip and scandal, murder and treachery, and it has delighted and horrified readers for nearly two thousand years.

Plutarch’s Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans is also a good contemporary biographical source, but can’t compete with Suetonius for the level of juicy and sordid details that we all, secretly or not so secretly, love. 

This is the best collection of the Greek Myths I believe, and of course covers the Orpheus and Eurydice myth, the direct inspiration for my book. In the classical myth the poet and musician Orpheus loses his love, Eurydice, and sings his way into Hades, overcoming all opposition, until even Hades agrees to let him have Eurydice back in the living world, so long as he does not look back at her until returned there. Once in daylight he does look back, and loses her forever as she hasn't stepped into daylight too. However, unlike Orpheus my young hero succeeds.

Among the many detective shows, I’ve loved “Murdoch Mysteries” for its cheeky take on Canadian history and policing. You’ll find that this story collection for Young Adult readers takes a similar approach.

The fictional detective is shown in his youth, already solving mysteries and interacting with both famous fictional villains and historical figures. I read many of these stories–nearly all published in Black Cat Weekly–in manuscript, returning the favor as Sirois is a writing friend, a longtime beta reader, and even designed a cover for one of my novels.

I’ve been deeply engaged in questions of women’s spirituality, including the accusations of witchcraft leveled at healers, psychics, and just plain unpopular women.

The witch in question is Janet Horne, whose execution in 1727 marked the last witchcraft trial and judicial killing in Britain. The harrowing story of this woman and her daughter, set in Dornoch in far northeastern Scotland, provides the basis for Paris’s heartfelt novel.

I was taken by his use of a traveling group of entertainers as a major element in the story of prejudice and malice. Just this year, an official tartan was released, commemorating the hundreds who lost their lives. The pattern is predominantly black, with red for the tape on legal documents and gray denoting ash.

Maddox Roberts has written the superb SPQR series of historical mysteries, named after the Latin phrase meaning “The Senate and The People of Rome”. The whole series, with its cynical and arrogant hero, Decius Caecilius Metellus, is full of energy and wonderfully colorful characters, but I chose this book for one scene: the ritual of the October Horse. I defy you to read this and not end up exhausted as you cheer on our hero’s magnificent victory. The author’s research is impeccable and is used so skilfully you don’t notice it’s there. I cannot think of a higher compliment to give an historical writer. Cicero gets a nice write-up, which I appreciate!

This trilogy by Robert Harris includes his bestselling novels Imperium, Lustrum, and Dictator and takes the reader through the life and times of Rome and the Roman statesman, lawyer, and scholar—Marcus Cicero. 

I found these books to give a fascinating view into the period of the history of late BC. I think they provide a spellbinding insight into a history that most have only read about in textbooks—brought alive in Richard Harris’s inimitable style.

Cicero is shown as the brilliant politician that modern-day imitators would be proud of.

This is the first book in Saylor’s “Roma sub rosa” series, and introduces one of the nicest heroes in historical mystery! Gordianus the Finder is the Roman equivalent of our private detective and he works for a young politician and orator, Cicero. Based on a real lawsuit from 80 BCE, Saylor makes great use of the actual speech made, and conveys the skill and showmanship of the lawyer at a time when a good speech was seen as entertainment for the masses. Into this original material though he weaves a hideous and complex murder plot. Riveting stuff! 

I am a huge fan of Cicero, and it was really interesting—if a little hard at times!—to see him portrayed with all his flaws and weaknesses.

It’s rare that I find a book that plunges me so deeply into the psychology of a character.

Grace is the protagonist of Alias Grace. She’s cunning. She’s bold. She’s possibly a murderess. The most fascinating aspect of Grace to me is that she is based on a real-life character from Canada in the mid-1800s.

Throughout the whole book, I kept wondering about her—not just the fictional character, but the real one too—was this what she was really thinking? Was this how she really behaved?

I found her voice in the novel to be absolutely undeniable. You want to believe everything she says, but at the same time, you mistrust her...

This enthralling evocation of the long life of Rome’s first emperor, Augustus, uses fictional letters and other invented documents to tell his story, from the point when, as a teenager, he found himself the heir of the assassinated dictator Julius Caesar, to his final days as sole ruler of a vast empire. Emerging as victor from a protracted civil war, Augustus managed to impose a degree of stability across the Roman world, though at a cost. Could the bloodthirsty youth have really turned into the modest statesman? His contemporaries found him hard to read. Williams charts with subtlety and insight the phases in Augustus’ self-reinvention, shining a particular spotlight on his fraught relationship with Julia, his daughter, whom he found himself obliged to send into exile, as a conspicuous offender against his flagship legislation on adultery.