I was trying to figure out why I feel so depressed today, and then I remembered that Al Franken is going to be my new senator.

In related news, the official Minnesota State Accessory is now the red rubber clown nose.



I decided to try reading a mystery by Steven Saylor on the recommendation of James Lileks (not, I probably ought to add, a personal recommendation, but one heard on the Hugh Hewitt Show). I’m glad I did, and I’ll be reading more. But they’re odd books.

The hero of The Venus Throw is Gordianus the Finder, an established private detective in Rome in the time of Julius Caesar. This story takes place in the year 56 BC, and is based on actual events.

Gordianus is visited, unexpectedly, by an acquaintance from the past, an old Egyptian philosopher named Dio, with whom he used to have informal dialogues when he lived as a young man in Alexandria. Dio explains that he is part of a delegation from Egypt which has come to petition the Roman Senate. One by one or in groups, most of the original 100 emissaries have been murdered or scared off. Dio asks Gordianus for just one favor—to do a sort of security check on the house where he is staying, so that he can eat the food without fearing poison.

Gordianus, very regretfully, has to refuse. Not only does the case involve political risks, but he is leaving on a trip to visit his oldest stepson (a soldier of Caesar’s in Gaul) the next day.

On his return from Gaul, Gordianus learns that Dio was murdered that very night.

Very shortly thereafter he is hired by a famous (and notorious) Roman matron, Clodia, a beautiful and seductive woman noted for immorality and suspected incest with her brother. She wants Gordianus to investigate Dio’s death and find evidence against the object of her suspicions, a young man who was once her lover.

The possible complications will be obvious, and they arrive as expected. But the mystery of Dio’s death leads Gordianus to discover further crimes and scandals no one had suspected. Some of them even reside in his own household.

The historical novel presents unique challenges for any author (as I know well). These challenges are remarkably similar to those of the fantasy author, because (for the average modern reader) the actual past is as unknown as any invented world.

This leads to the dreaded obstacle of the Information Dump. Somehow you’ve got to explain to your reader who your characters are, and how their world works, and what circumstances led them to the positions and relationships that underlie your plot. As I read, I was frankly amazed at the amount of wordage Saylor devotes to back story here. He does it gracefully, but I couldn’t help noticing that I was turning page after page in the early chapters without the plot advancing a single millimeter.

Remarkably, this early delay is matched at the end by a very long legal speech delivered by none other than Cicero (who appears much less noble in this story than I’m used to seeing him portrayed).

I enjoyed reading The Venus Throw, and learned a lot from it (I knew the name of the poet Catullus, for instance, but now I have a mental picture of him). I don’t think it can be denied that it’s slow reading, though. This is a cerebral book, not an action story.

There is quite a lot of reference to sexual perversions of various kinds. It’s handled fairly discreetly, but I wouldn’t recommend the book for young readers.