Road to Rome

January 10: “As they stamped their feet against the cold, they waited for the trumpeters to summon them to action. To shoulder arms, to advance — to cross the Rubicon.”  

‘I Plunged’

January 9: “My body whispered: ‘You cannot possibly swim five miles in such a current,’ but Inspiration shouted: ‘This is the Hellespont….’ ”  

Phantoms of Breslau

In the latest chapter of Marek Krajewski’s arrestingly inventive noir series, the murder of four naked sailors on a secluded island puts Polish detective Eberhard Mock back on the case.  Decadent detection at its finest.