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The Seven Stars
A serial killer stalks the first-century Roman his victims, followers of the man they call The Christ. In 21st century Britain, former MI6 agent turned Oxford academic, Flora Kemble is invited to help at an archaeological dig in Pompeii. She stumbles onto a secret that could shake Western civilization to its roots. What follows show she’s not the only one with an interest. The hunter becomes the hunted and very soon Flora is running for her life as a two thousand year-old conspiracy spreads its deadly tentacles into the modern age, unleashing a trail of deceit, violence and death reaching to the very soul of the American nation. The greatest deception of all time is about to be unmasked…
440 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 5, 2012
11 people are currently reading
431 people want to read
About the author
Simon Leighton-Porter
5 books4 followersSimon grew up in Sussex. After graduating from Southampton University with a degree in economics, he spent sixteen years in the Royal Air Force and was the first RAF pilot to fly the Mirage 2000 on operations over Iraq while on exchange with the French Air Force. Leaving the Service with the rank of Squadron Leader, he worked in the City of London as a derivatives broker and in various technology roles before becoming a director of a financial software company. He has also provided consultancy and software development services to a small group of global financial institutions and is a regular speaker on the international conference circuit.
His passion for history, languages and archaeology have come together to create Flora Kemble, Oxford University palaeographer and heroine of his first novel, The Seven Stars, a thriller that weaves a tale of deception and murder stretching from ancient Rome to the present day. Three other titles are now in print - The Minerva System, Death to Bankers and The Manhattan Deception. A fifth book, Bomber Boys - A Ghost Story, will be published shortly.
Simon is a member of the Chartered Institute of Linguists and splits his time between work in Abu Dhabi and a far more relaxing time with his wife, Wendy - also a Mauve Square author - with their two cats at home in south-west France.
Some useful links:
The Seven Stars
The Minerva System
Death to Bankers
The Manhattan Deception
His passion for history, languages and archaeology have come together to create Flora Kemble, Oxford University palaeographer and heroine of his first novel, The Seven Stars, a thriller that weaves a tale of deception and murder stretching from ancient Rome to the present day. Three other titles are now in print - The Minerva System, Death to Bankers and The Manhattan Deception. A fifth book, Bomber Boys - A Ghost Story, will be published shortly.
Simon is a member of the Chartered Institute of Linguists and splits his time between work in Abu Dhabi and a far more relaxing time with his wife, Wendy - also a Mauve Square author - with their two cats at home in south-west France.
Some useful links:
The Seven Stars
The Minerva System
Death to Bankers
The Manhattan Deception
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
June 26, 2015
"Please remember that it's only a novel: I made it up" and with that disclaimer in mind the author writes a wonderful book which is two related stories. The first is set in the present and revolves around the Oxford scholar, paleontologist Flora Kemble and an archeological dig at Pompeii. The site is robbed of ancient papyrus fragments, codices, and copper sheets. The second strand is set in the 1st century C.E. in Pompeii and other sites in the Mediterranean and features the Jewish historian Josephus who was purported to be the author of the items that were stolen. Joseph is the author of two important works, The Jewish Wars and Antiquities. Remember, it's fiction! and in this book he claims to be the son of Yeshua bar Yosef.
Added to the mix are several archaeologists, tele-evagelists, the FBI, MI6, black market antiquities dealers, a gang of mafia-type guys, Nero, Vespasian, and the disciples Peter and Paul. The two strands are separate but sections ended in a 'cliff-hanger' which propelled me to read more.
Flora is portrayed as a young, brilliant academic but I was surprised that the various events and the lost items were dated B.C. and A.D. where I expected to see B.C.E. and C.E.
No sex
No violence (although a lot of people were killed in both strands)
Added to the mix are several archaeologists, tele-evagelists, the FBI, MI6, black market antiquities dealers, a gang of mafia-type guys, Nero, Vespasian, and the disciples Peter and Paul. The two strands are separate but sections ended in a 'cliff-hanger' which propelled me to read more.
Flora is portrayed as a young, brilliant academic but I was surprised that the various events and the lost items were dated B.C. and A.D. where I expected to see B.C.E. and C.E.
No sex
No violence (although a lot of people were killed in both strands)
August 4, 2015
This book flora between modern day and ancient Rome by chapter and has a modern murder mystery in Pompeii with lots of murders, deceit and general religious based naughtiness in the ancient world. A bit of light relief for a summer read.
March 26, 2013
Like most people, I like to read a broad selection of books, I like my Gothic novellas just as much as my historical drama and crime thrillers, and I have read works by many authors.
I think that Simon Leighton-Porters, The Seven Stars is right up there with the likes of Kate Mosse, Dan Brown, and others who fuse historical context with modern day mystery thrillers.
I really enjoyed the fictional historical back drop to the story and the way that it wove its self through the present day action in the book. The main characters in both the historical and present day thread are highly likeable, and the way that they touch each others lives is fascinating.
The mystery that our present day heroine, Flora, stumbles across is infectious. You won't want to put this one down until you've reached the very last page and know exactly how the past has come to affect the future
I think that Simon Leighton-Porters, The Seven Stars is right up there with the likes of Kate Mosse, Dan Brown, and others who fuse historical context with modern day mystery thrillers.
I really enjoyed the fictional historical back drop to the story and the way that it wove its self through the present day action in the book. The main characters in both the historical and present day thread are highly likeable, and the way that they touch each others lives is fascinating.
The mystery that our present day heroine, Flora, stumbles across is infectious. You won't want to put this one down until you've reached the very last page and know exactly how the past has come to affect the future
March 26, 2013
Even though this book jumps from modern day to the past I did enjoy it. A good twist on the Christian story and very enjoyable
June 16, 2013
Liked the idea and plot - archaeologists looking at a serial killer in Roman times but found the writing style rather dull and predictable. But then it was cheap!
July 31, 2019
Honestly, one star is harsh but two seems overly generous... Normally I round up in these situations but I spent so much time rolling my eyes at this I can't justify the round up.
I strongly suspect this book was self-published and if so I think some editing would really help. I thought the premise - of a serial killer from around the time of Christ being discovered in modern times, with modern killings - an interesting one, but it was let down by the writing.
Our lead, Flora (who I called Fiona in a few of my notes which shows how memorable she was) is almost flighty on her characterisation. She wants to be involved,she doesn't want to be involved, she doesn't want a gun, she needs a gun, she's had past hush-hush experience which is utterly contradicted by most of her actions in the last 100 pages... She's all over the place. Interestingly she does feel developed though in comparison to the rest of the characters. All but one of whom are men so I guess yay that the female character is the most well rounded??
I also struggled with the language, modern terms were used in the Roman empire sections and felt jarring and really out of place. Conversations were stilted between characters, explanations of cryptic clues were not explained well, and honestly can you describe someone as explaining something in a "brief but concise" manner?
Based off this I don't think I'd read more by the author and I also think I'll forget this book quickly too...
I strongly suspect this book was self-published and if so I think some editing would really help. I thought the premise - of a serial killer from around the time of Christ being discovered in modern times, with modern killings - an interesting one, but it was let down by the writing.
Our lead, Flora (who I called Fiona in a few of my notes which shows how memorable she was) is almost flighty on her characterisation. She wants to be involved,she doesn't want to be involved, she doesn't want a gun, she needs a gun, she's had past hush-hush experience which is utterly contradicted by most of her actions in the last 100 pages... She's all over the place. Interestingly she does feel developed though in comparison to the rest of the characters. All but one of whom are men so I guess yay that the female character is the most well rounded??
I also struggled with the language, modern terms were used in the Roman empire sections and felt jarring and really out of place. Conversations were stilted between characters, explanations of cryptic clues were not explained well, and honestly can you describe someone as explaining something in a "brief but concise" manner?
Based off this I don't think I'd read more by the author and I also think I'll forget this book quickly too...
April 18, 2023
Complicated archaeological mystery featuring early Christianity and an expert who just happens to have an unusual background useful for her involvement.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews