Described by readers as a ‘laugh out loud comedy caper’, Alaric’s Gold is the hilarious story of the race to discover the river-bed tomb of Alaric, the Goth who sacked Rome in 410 AD, and seize the fabulous hoard of treasure that was buried with him.    

Set in modern day Italy this is also a fast-paced and gripping thriller about the recovery of that treasure.

The cast includes 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, a shoot-out with the mafia, and the discovery of a hoard of riches from the ancient world.

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’, had been constructed in a river-bed 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 ‘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 . . .