The Fatal Scroll: A Herculaneum Mystery

By Eric Siblin

" Siblin] offers intrigue, brings history to life and skillfully weaves them into a compelling storyline." -- Edwards Book Club Reviews

A murder mystery about the shady side of the antiquities trade, ancient philosophy, and tech's utopian promises.

Marcus Sinclair is a history teacher whose life is stuck in neutral when he inherits a papyrus scroll from his antiquarian uncle. The mysterious scroll might contain a lost masterpiece from ancient Rome or perhaps an ancient recipe for personal tranquility, but it's unreadable unless Marcus can figure out a way to unroll the scroll without destroying it. His quest takes him to Naples, where he befriends a Google software engineer days before the man is found dead. Marcus is interviewed by an investigative journalist, Kristi Grainger, and they find themselves on parallel paths leading to a Neapolitan trafficker in antiquities, a tech mogul obsessed with the distant past, and a clutch of academics searching for the lost library of Herculaneum. In a seaside city that is by turns lush and lethal, Marcus must confront the unraveling of more than a scroll.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1770418407
• ISBN13: 9781770418400
• Release Date: May 2025
• Publisher: ECW Press
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.5" x 8.4"