The Emperor's Cipher — Robert Walker

In the shadow of ancient Rome, a modern conspiracy unfolds...When classics professor Marcus Whitby is called to a murder scene at the Museum of Classical Antiquities, he discovers more than a dead body. The victim has been arranged in perfect imitation of Julius Caesar's assassination, complete with twenty-three stab wounds and a cryptic Latin message: The Aurelii Remember.As more victims fall—each death recreating pivotal moments in Rome's transition from Republic to Empire—Marcus finds himself drawn into a deadly conspiracy stretching back two millennia. With his unlikely allies—a paranoid graduate assistant and his detective friend—Marcus races to decode an ancient cipher system hidden in plain sight.What connects garden gnomes to imperial bloodlines? Why is Marcus's ex-wife's new husband so interested in Caesar artifacts? And most importantly, who are the Aurelii—the secret society claiming direct descent from Rome's emperors?Marcus must decipher the clues before the killer completes their historical reenactment—a performance where he may be cast in the final role.