Historical Mystery. Slave named "udo" is bought by group of boys for their teacher. Boy's politician father is a target of assassination. Gladiator. Friendly lion. Cover: boy being dragged off by gladiator. Read in 2023.

[Lakhota]

Fictional mystery book that I read this year. I lost it. the book cover features a boy that is being dragged off by a gladiator. in the book there is a slave named "udo" he is bought by a group of boys a s a birthday gift to their teacher. in the book the boys and udo find out from a letter that one of their fathers (A politician) is an target of assassination. udo the slave was meant to deliver the letter that is hidden in his collar to the gladiator but didn't because he feared that he was going to be killed after he delivered the message. there is one scene in the book that take place where the boys and udo are out and about when the gladiator attempts to catch and detain the slave but the boys dump honey on his head, and they all escape. The book also features a lion that is friendly with only the boys because they trained them when the lion was small.

[Lakhota]

Its not "The Thieves of Ostia" by Caroline Lawrence. But its similar i guess

[Orsolya Könyvtáros (formerly Memp)]

Mystery of the Roman Ransom, the sequel to Detectives in Togas by Henry Winterfeld.

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

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[Kris]

Lakhota, I copied book details to the topic header. Feel free to edit it.

Is this book for teens or adults?

[Kris]

Lakhota, Memp's suggestion of Mystery of the Roman Ransom (book 2) by Henry Winterfeld sounds like your book. Can you confirm?

Google Books preview: https://books.google.com/books?id=9vW...
There are different cover images.