The Curse-Maker is the sequel to he award-winning Nox Dormienda, the first book of the Roman noir series created by Kelli Stanley ( City of Dragons ). Wedding impeccably researched history to prose and themes reminiscent of classic hard-boiled writers, The Curse-Maker is a thrilling and suspenseful journey into a dark corner of Roman Britain you've never seen before. When Roman physician Arcturus and his stunning wife, Gwyna, arrive at Bath for a holiday, a dead body is floating in the sacred spring. It turns out that the murdered man is a curse-maker whose invocations actually come true, and as murder follows murder, it looks like there's now a curse on Arcturus.  This is an exciting and exotic story of a spa town where people go to heal...only to wind up dead. And it takes the doctor-investigator on a dark road -- into Roman cemeteries, silver mines, and underground water tunnels -- to comprehend the twisted mind of a killer bent on revenge. *Starred Review* Tourists visiting the Roman baths in Bath, England, can see tiny clay tablets on display, tablets that carry curses ranging from trivial (May the one who stole my gloves in the baths last week get a rash) to homicidal. In this second in her Roman noir series (the first, Nox Dormienda, 2008, won the Bruce Alexander Award for best historical mystery), Stanley seizes on this curiosity and crafts an entire mystery around the murder of a man who inscribed curses for a living. Set in Brittania in the first century CE, during the reign of the emperor Domitian, the novel stars Arcturus, a Roman physician, and his wife (who gives considerable help to his solving mysteries). Here, Arcturus and wife Gwyna travel from Londinium to the spa town of Aquae Sulis (Bath) because Gwyna is suffering from an unknown ailment that has all the earmarks of contemporary depression. Arcturus himself is suffering from the guilt of not being able to save the young son of General Agricola. As soon as the two arrive, they see the spectacle of a body in the Sacred Spring—the body belongs to a curse maker. Besides writing an engrossing mystery, in which the first murder leads to a typically Roman orgy of revenge, Stanley serves up fascinating and never heavy-handed information on Roman life. For fans of Steven Saylor’s Roma Sub Rosa series. --Connie Fletcher "Terrific noir. The flavor and setting shine, and Stanley has the knack for creating an atmosphere that feels as if she has transcribed actual historical events.... Stanley is definitely one to watch." -- RT Book Reviews  "Besides writing an engrossing mystery ... Stanley serves up fascinating and never heavy-handed information on Roman life." -- Booklist (Starred Review) "Well-plotted ... all will wish this historical series a long life." -- Publishers Weekly  "Captures the details and rhythms of daily life in the ancient empire." -- Kirkus Reviews KELLI STANLEY's first novel in the 1940 San Francisco-set Miranda Corbie series, CITY OF DRAGONS, was met with overwhelming critical acclaim and was a finalist for the prestigious Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Stanley also writes a highly-praised series set in Roman Britain, the latest of which is THE CURSE-MAKER. Her debut novel, NOX DORMIENDA, won the Bruce Alexander Award for best historical mystery of 2008. She makes her home in Dashiell Hammett’s San Francisco, earned a Master’s Degree in Classics, and loves jazz, old movies, fedoras, Art Deco and speakeasies. CHAPTER ONE   The man was floating, serene, tunic swirling in the undulating waves like clouds against a blue sky. His mouth was open. He was dead. I looked back toward Gwyna. She was kneeling in the saddle like a circus acrobat, struggling to see what was going on. At least she seemed focused. Not the aimless woman, the lost wife I’d brought here, hoping to find the woman I loved. Voices rose from the crowd, agitated. “Pollution! In our town! The council must—” “Why doesn’t someone do something? Where’s Papirius?” “How dare he do this to the goddess? To us?” They shoved forward, scrambling for a closer look, taking me with them. Another voice, calmer than the rest. “Can someone help me pull him up?” The crowd was stiff with excitement, and I pushed my way through. I was stiff, and not so excited, but I was there, even if it was early in the morning after a long trip, and I was just trying to get some goddamn directions. *   *   * The reservoir was seven, maybe eight feet deep, filled from the famous Sacred Spring of the famous goddess Sulis. From the look of the pipes, it dispersed the famous hot water to the famous baths, just to the south. Everything in Aquae Sulis was famous. Female faces were lining the three windows of the main bath building, staring down with horrified pleasure. The corpse bobbed against the wall, mouth still open, looking just as shocked. He danced and waved, making a low, slushing thud, held upright by a hemp rope secured under his arms and tied to a balustrade. I could see what the heat a