Alaric’s Gold

Does a riverbed in southern Italy still conceal the priceless hoard of Roman treasure that was buried in the grave of Alaric the Goth, just months after his warlike hordes had looted Rome in 410 AD? 

Described by readers as a ‘laugh-out-loud comedy caper’, Alaric’s Gold is the hilarious story of the race to discover the grave and seize the fabulous treasure within it.   

Set in modern-day Italy, this fast-paced and gripping thriller plays host to a cast including a roguish Italian prime minister, his favourite escort girl, dissolute diplomats, corrupt police officers and the mafia. The action involves a helicopter jail break, kidnappings and a shoot-out with the mafia.

On one level, this is a light and amusing story set in the present day, but on another it draws on genuine historical records to point the way to one of the richest graves in antiquity – a grave that, according to Edward Gibbon in The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, was constructed in a riverbed after its waters had been diverted ‘by the labour of a captive multitude’, a grave containing ‘the splendid spoils and trophies of Rome’, one whose secrecy was assured by the ‘inhuman massacre of the prisoners who had been employed to execute the work’, and one about which the world appears largely to have forgotten.

The grave awaits discovery…