Withering Heights

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Lindsey Davis

Lumbered with working alongside reptilian Chief Spy Anacrites, Falco has hit upon the perfect plan. He'll offer his services to Vespasian and Titus in conducting the "great Census" of AD 73 as a tax collector. If he does well, his fees will finally allow him to join the middle ranks and wed his long-suffering companion, Helena Justina. Meanwhile, Falco needs to trace a relative who has eloped, and he has a crazy plan for finding an extinct herb.As Falco pokes around, he learns about the death of a much beloved lion, then uncovers a bitter rivalry between gladiators' trainers. When a star gladiator ends up dead, Falco is forced to investigate. The trail leads to Tripoli, where the killer has escaped and where Falco meets up with more danger.

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edited and translated by Lawrence M. Wills

This volume brings together in translation all the ancient Jewish novels and fragments of novels. Included are texts from the Old Testament Apocrypha, several historical novels, and selections from the Testaments of the 12 Patriarchs.

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Lindsey Davis

From Wikipedia: " Set in Rome during AD 72, the novel stars Marcus Didius Falco, an informer and imperial agent. The title refers to the law which stated that no Roman citizen who had been sentenced to death might be arrested, even after the verdict, until he has been given time to depart, the idea being that for a Roman citizen to choose exile outside the boundaries of the Empire would have been a fate worse than death itself. Falco's closest friend, Petronius Longus, has finally caught one of the leading criminals in Rome, Balbinus Pius. But a quirk in Roman law allows a convicted felon, even a murderer, time to depart before the sentence is carried out. Balbinus' departure has left a vacuum in the underworld of Rome, and there is a crowd of criminals trying desperately to fill the void. Their first step is to engineer a robbery that reverberates throughout the city. Falco is again called upon by the Emperor Vespasian to supply answers, as quietly and quickly as possible. A couple of murders, a kidnapping or two, and more suspects than Falco cares to count takes him, and his patrician girlfriend Helena Justina, to places a family shouldn't have to go."

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Carole Wilkinson

Ping is in hiding on the mountain slopes of Tai Shan, carrying out her promise to look after the baby purple dragon, Kai. But her peaceful life comes to an end when the imperial guards catch her, and take her back to Ming Yang lodge. Does she have the strength to fulfil her destiny as the Dragonkeeper - and find sanctuary for Kai?