“Mystery of the Roman Ransom” by Henry Winterfeld

Imagine buying your teacher a birthday present and finding out it’s carrying orders for a murder!

That’s what happens to Rufus, Caius, Antonius, and the rest of the boys at Xantippus’s school in ancient Rome. For their teacher’s 50th birthday, they chip in and buy him a slave named Udo. But Xantippus says no thanks, and the boys soon find out that Udo is a secret messenger. The message he carries calls for the assassination of a Roman senator, and that senator is one of the boys’ own fathers!

Now the seven schoolboys have to crack the plot before it’s too late. There are chases through the streets, sneaky villains, sword fights, and lots of laughs. Publishers Weekly called it “glorious fun,” and it is.

This is the sequel to “Detectives in Togas,” but it’s a blast on its own too. This paperback is in good condition, and it’s ready for its next detective at Dead Tree Dreams.