Order of Book Series
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Ben Pastor Books in Order

Ben Pastor has written 10 books, published between 1999 and 2024. The first book is Lumen (1999) and the newest is The Venus of Salo (2024). Publication order is the reading order below.

Books
10
Published
1999–2024
Pages on record
2,497 in 7 of 10 books
Reading time
42–62 hours

Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 2,497 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 7 of 10 titles with a page count on record.

See all 10 books in order Printable Ben Pastor checklist
Photo of Ben Pastor, author

Ben Pastor is the pen name of Maria Verbena Volpi, born in Rome in 1950 and holding both Italian and US citizenship. The novels are historical mysteries set in ancient Rome and in Germany after the Second World War. Ten catalogued books run from Lumen in 1999 to The Venus of Salo in 2024, split between the Captain Martin Bora series and the Aelius Spartianus books. Martin Bora is the recurring figure, and murder, police work and the war years supply the material.

How many Ben Pastor books are there?

Ben Pastor has 10 books, released between 1999 and 2024. They include 2 separate series.

Ben Pastor Books in Publication Order

The table lists all 10 Ben Pastor books in the order they were published, with the release year, the page count where one is on record, and how many independent book listings confirm each title. Catalogue data as of September 2026.

  1. Cover of Liar Moon by Ben Pastor, book 2 of the Captain Martin Bora series (2001)
  2. Cover of A Dark Song of Blood by Ben Pastor, book 3 of the Captain Martin Bora series (2002)
  3. Cover of The Water Thief by Ben Pastor, book 1 of the Aelius Spartianus series (2007)
  4. Cover of The Fire Waker by Ben Pastor, book 2 of the Aelius Spartianus series (2008)
  5. Cover of Tin Sky by Ben Pastor, book 4 of the Captain Martin Bora series (2015)
  6. Cover of The Road to Ithaca by Ben Pastor, book 5 of the Captain Martin Bora series (2017)
  1. 1
    LumenCaptain Martin Bora #11999 · 288 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1999288
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  2. 2
    Liar MoonCaptain Martin Bora #22001 · confirmed 2/4
    2001–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  3. 3
    A Dark Song of BloodCaptain Martin Bora #32002 · confirmed 2/4
    2002–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  4. 4
    The Water ThiefAelius Spartianus #12007 · 368 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2007368
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  5. 5
    The Fire WakerAelius Spartianus #22008 · 320 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2008320
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  6. 6
    Tin SkyCaptain Martin Bora #42015 · 397 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2015397
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  7. 7
    The Road to IthacaCaptain Martin Bora #52017 · 396 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2017396
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  8. 8
    The Horseman’s SongCaptain Martin Bora #62019 · 376 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2019376
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  9. 9
    The Night of Shooting StarsCaptain Martin Bora #72020 · 352 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2020352
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  10. 10
    The Venus of SaloCaptain Martin Bora #82024 · confirmed 2/4
    2024–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK

Ben Pastor characters in order

The character linked below has its own reading-order page.

Ben Pastor books grouped by series

Each title below is a row in the publication-order table above. None of these groups has a reading-order page of its own on this site.

Captain Martin Bora in order

8 books
  1. 1. Lumen
  2. 2. Liar Moon
  3. 3. A Dark Song of Blood
  4. 4. Tin Sky
  5. 5. The Road to Ithaca
  6. 6. The Horseman’s Song
  7. 7. The Night of Shooting Stars
  8. 8. The Venus of Salo

Aelius Spartianus in order

2 books
  1. 1. The Water Thief
  2. 2. The Fire Waker

Do you have to read Ben Pastor books in order?

You only need to read Ben Pastor books in order within each series: the books listed here span 2 separate series, and each series has its own publication order.

Where to start with Ben Pastor

Start with Lumen (1999), the first Martin Bora book. It is also the earliest catalogued title.

What is the newest Ben Pastor book?

The Venus of Salo (2024) is the newest Ben Pastor book released so far.

Is there a new Ben Pastor book coming?

No next Ben Pastor book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.

Ben Pastor at a glance

Still publishing
Ben Pastor published a book as recently as 2024.
Release pace
Ben Pastor books have appeared about one every 3 years on average.
Length
2,497 pages across the 7 of 10 books with a recorded length, a median of 368 pages each.
Busiest decade
Most Ben Pastor books, 4 of 10, were published in the 2000s.

What the Ben Pastor books are about

8 of the 10 Ben Pastor books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: history is tagged on 6 of 8. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.