The Sepia Siren Killer by Richard A. Lupoff

Crazy, you say? It could never happen here? Amoroso thinks it could-and believes his movement would become unstoppable if only he could lay his hands on a certain ancient artifact.…Īh, but I’m getting ahead of the story, and that wouldn’t be fair to anyone about to plunge into The Silver Chariot Killer.īesides a fascination with Rome, there’s something else that Dick Lupoff and I have in common: a passion for obscure, vintage mysteries. Or consider a modern-day, right-wing politician like Randolph Amoroso in The Silver Chariot Killer, who proudly speaks of establishing an American empire to rival Rome’s. Just ask any politician-but especially one with a fascist bent, like Benito Mussolini, who played at being Caesar and updated Roman ideals of order and beauty into twentieth-century jackbooted kitsch. The place is so legendary, you see, that our epigrams about it nave become clichés.īut clichés can be powerful. Here’s a clue: All roads are said to lead there.Īnd when you’re there, you must do as the locals do.Īnd while you’re there, if you throw a coin into a certain fountain, destiny will inevitably bring you boomeranging back.Īnd the place will definitely still be there when you return, because it’s the Eternal City. Both draw a special energy and inspiration from a certain place, a city that is more than just a city, whose legendary name evokes a whole registry of ideas and emotions spanning hundreds of lifetimes.

Yes, both are whodunits-but they share something more than that, something very significant. One was my own latest novel about ancient murder and mayhem, which I reread as typeset galleys (for work) the other was the book you hold in your hands, which I had the rare privilege of reading in manuscript (for pleasure).Īt first glance, you might not think that Richard Lupoff’s The Silver Chariot Killer (which takes place mostly in modern New York) and my own A Murder on the Appian Way (set in 52 B.C.) could have much in common, aside from the fact that both revolve around a murder and so come under the increasingly flexible genre classification of mystery and suspense. One of the treats of working in publishing is getting to read books before they’re actually published-sometimes hot off the word processor, in fact. Faithful friends, none of whom has ever read a word I wrote.

Jinx, Smokey, Lady, Pepper, Snoopy, Bonzo, Lucy, Magnum, Daisy, Ramona, and Mister Boris Peabody. Introduction Copyright © 1996 by Steven Saylor One Murder at a Time: The Casebook of Lindsey & Plum COPYRIGHT INFORMATIONĬopyright © 1996, 2013 by Richard A. Sword of the Demon THE LINDSEY & PLUM DETECTIVE SERIESĩ. The Adventures of Professor Thintwhistle & His Incredible Aether Flyer (with Steve Stiles) ABOUT THE AUTHOR BORGO PRESS BOOKS BY RICHARD A.

The Sepia Siren Killer by Richard A. Lupoff