It's the summer of AD 79 and Flavia Gemina and her friends, Jonathan, Nubia and Lupus, set sail for the Bay of Naples where they are going to stay with Flavia's uncle near Pompeii. Once they arrive, they are soon absorbed in a quest to solve a riddle that may lead to treasure. But then tragedy strikes: Mount Vesuvius erupts and the friends must flee for their lives! Not just a mystery - this is an absolutely thrilling action adventure that brings history to life! THE SECRETS OF VESUVIUS in the immensely readable Roman Mysteries series by Caroline Lawrence again features a kind of classical famous five: Flavia Gemina and her friends, Jonathan, Nubia and Lupus, plus Scuto the dog, meet the great Pliny while on holiday in Pompeii and end up near Mount Vesuvius on the fateful night it erupted. An enormous amount of information about the ancient world is conveyed under the guise of a jolly good romp― Fiona Lafferty an interesting and exciting read that is extremely well researched. It is packed with accurate detail of everyday Roman life. The story is so well paced and involving that you don't realise just how much information you are absorbing.― School Librarian immensely readable― Times Educational Supplement Mystery and adventure for four young detectives in Ancient Roman times . . . Flavia Gemina is spending the summer with her uncle who lives near Pompeii. She and her friends, Jonathan, Nubia and Lupus, are trying to solve a fascinating riddle that may lead to treasure when Mount Vesuvius erupts! Suddenly the four friends are in desperate danger. Will they escape with their lives? www.romanmysteries.com www.orionbooks.co.uk £6.99 ISBN: 978 1 84255 021 2 Cover artwork: XXX Caroline Lawrence is American. She lives with her husband by the river in London and is active as a speaker in schools and at book festivals. She took part in the British Museum's POMPEII LIVE event, giving talks that were streamed to schools all over the UK, and she is the winner of the 2009 CLASSICS ASSOCIATION PRIZE for 'a significant contribution to the public understanding of Classics'. In addition to the 17 novels in the ROMAN MYSTERIES sequence, Caroline Lawrence has written five spin-off titles, all of which have contributed to total UK sales in excess of 1 million copies. Visit Caroline's website at www.carolinelawrence.com and follow her on Twitter @CarolineLawrenc.