It's an entertaining read. Set in Roman Britain, in Chester. A newly arrived Roman Army doctor, Russo,is trying to advance his career and pay off his debts when he is involved in ascertaining the cause of death of a female body. He becomes entangled in investigating the deaths and disappearances of a series of sex workers from the local brothel. His questions make him very unpopular, and he also manages to buy himself an injured British girl who has been badly abused by the trader who abducted her.
He soon finds Tilla, the girl, gives him more problems, gets him into more trouble with the authorities, and yet more debt.

This first installment of a historical mystery series is touted as one of the best books on Ancient Rome. It is set in Deva(Chester), Britannia we follow a medicus, doctor who on his recent arrival to this city is confronted with numerous dead females.

This should tick all my boxes, debut novel, way to learn about Ancient Rome in an entertaining way and mystery guaranteed to be light enough reading. Well, it is light reading, but the tone and content is best described as a modern sensibility squeezed onto well-researched history on Roman occupation. And the modern colloquiums kept pulling me out of the narrative. I will be a bit more forgiving about the mystery development because it is a debut. But it was frustrating to have clues continuously mentioned and dropped by events that didn’t advance the plot.
Despite these glaring faults, the author did set up characters that I could revisit from time to time.

So overall, a potential gem of a series which could be great once author improves her craft.
A generous 3 star rating, it’s more 2.5. And I suggest getting from the library or used book before committing to buying the entire series.

Set in Roman Britannia at the time of Hadrian succeeding Emperor Trajen, this series opener introduces Doctor (Medicus) Gaius Petreius Ruso who has reluctantly transferred to an Army unit in this faraway outpost. He is deeply in debt, mostly through circumstances beyond his control, but is dedicated to helping those in need of his skills. In a moment of weakness, he finds himself rescuing a slave girl from an abusive situation, thinking he can always sell her at a profit and pay off some debt. But other girls are showing up dead or missing and despite his best efforts, Ruso gets drawn into solving the mystery of who’s behind it all.

I’m a bit mixed on my opinion of this first book in the series. Ruso is an interesting character in many ways even though he tends toward a doom and gloom outlook on life. The writing style was fairly absorbing and I found myself wanting to see what happened next. But I found the mystery elements to be less than I’d hoped for. Just not too much to it and, frankly, the romance plot overshadowed the mystery plot. The author also committed one of the cardinal sins of mystery stories (at least for me) when Ruso gets to learn of the identity of the culprit from a messenger but we readers don’t get to hear it. He then acts on this new information, leaving us in the dust. A fair-play mystery, this is not. But it really didn’t matter at that point as the bad guy was pretty evident by then.

The other problem I had was the details of the setting, or lack thereof. This takes place in Roman Britain! What a great setting! But it could have taken place almost anywhere and at any time in history for all the details we are provided. There were a few mentions of Roman lifestyles and culture but the modern-day language used throughout kept putting images of a more current era in my head. In most historical mysteries I’ve read the setting is vibrant and almost becomes another character in itself. A missed opportunity methinks.

Still, there was enough here to coax me to go ahead and try the next in the series. I am cautious but hopeful.

I liked this historical fiction, it shows the old times really nicely. I would say this is more of a historical novel than a detective story but still a good one.

A while back, I tried to get into the much-acclaimed Marcus Didius Falco series, and just couldn't. So, when I saw this book on sale as an Audible Daily Deal, I thought for a couple of bucks, why not? Turned out a wise move.

I bonded with "Medicus" (Doctor) Gaius Ruso as a character right away, nice guy in the wrong place at the wrong time. Downie does an excellent job of showing that everything old is new again, at one point having Ruso go through the frustration of getting the hospital administrator to approve payment for a patient's eye operation by a London specialist. The mystery angle pretty much stayed in the background until the end of the book, with the focus on life in Roman Britain. Though it was a long book, things never felt bogged down; the comedic aspect were never over-the-top either.

Simon Vance's narration was a perfect fit for the material - can't wait to listen to the sequel!

This has to be one of the best historical mysteries I've read in years, especially considering it's a first novel. Ranks right up there with Kenneth Cameron's THE FRIGHTENED MAN. The protagonist Ruso is the sort of reluctant (nearly anti-) hero I find both believable and enjoyable, and his back-and-forth with his housekeeper Tilla makes it all the more entertaining. Downie has clearly done her homework, and in a nice afterword, makes a point of letting the reader know about the parts that needed making up, as research couldn't glean any answers about certain aspects of Roman society in early Britannia.

I'm part way in to the next one in the series, TERRA INCOGNITA, and enjoying the hell out of it, as well.

YMMV-

Brian Thornton

Bettie's Books

I am being hard on this author, I know. I am a huge fan of Steven Saylor, whose Rome series was so great, I was sad when it ended. Saylor's character, Gordianus, is a detective who solves murders...all while living through the politics of Caesar, Cicero, Pompey, etc.

I guess I was expecting more Roman history in this series, but it wasn't there.
What I DID find was Gaius Petreius Ruso, a medical doctor, stationed in England. OK, then I changed my brain to take in this new character and new scenery.

I actually am finding it hard to even like Ruso. He is not the nicest person. He is struggling financially, on the bad side of the administrator, and goes into the 'murder mystery' almost being shoved...not wanting to bother with anyone or anything. He even doesn't like dogs... I kept thinking, this is a story that will change a grumpy man into a caring soul...yet I didn't see that happen.

Ruso does investigate the murders of women, which opens up the theme of the book...human trafficking and slavery.

What I was fascinated about was what Ruso, as a doctor, was up against during his time trying to treat patients. People would die of the flu, an infection most probably led to an amputation, and if you needed surgery most likely you wouldn't live. There was also a scene where a woman was giving birth and the baby was breach (or actually sideways) and if Ruso interjected to help, he says either the mother or the child COULD live but not both. Thank God for a midwife that saves both.

I am going to read the next Ruso book, because I love the history of the times, and also because I want to see if Ruso's personality grows on me.
Onward!! LOL

A nice cosy mystery, set in Roman Britain. Generally not my thing, but narrated by the peerless Simon Vance which always merits an additional star.

It took me a while to get the humor in this book but once I did, I started to enjoy it. Gaius Petreius Ruso is a broke, divorced doctor serving the 20th legion, just arrived to the wilds of Britannia. He's extremely grumpy, always grumbling about not wanting to get involved in anybody's business, but at the end, he always does the right thing. And that's how I realized what a good and kind man he was. No matter what he said or thought, he would always go out of his way to help others, even when it wasn't comfortable for him.

The mystery of the murdered girls was almost a backdrop for Ruso's life at the hospital and his relationship with his recently acquired slave girl. Although he tried not to care, you can see in his behavior how much he really does. There is a lot of modern terminology in this book but it serves the humor in this book, which is a lot about what you would think of as modern problems in an ancient setting. When I got it, I chuckled quite a bit.

The narration by Simon Vance was outstanding of course. I'm not sure if I would have enjoyed it as much reading it in print.

The way the book ended made me want to pick up the next one up right away. I really want to see how things progress with Ruso and Tilla.

Gaius Petrius Ruso is doctor serving with a Roman legion in Britain. Not very long ago, he was married, a hero (he had saved the Emperor Trajan's life), and the elder son of a prosperous family in southern Gaul. Now he's divorced, his father has died leaving behind a mountain of debt, his brief notoriety is forgotten, and Trajan is dead. He's struggling to pay off his father's debts, with his brother at home in Gaul working to keep the real state of their finances quiet so that their efforts have time to work.

In the meantime, he's sharing a mouse-infested with another army doctor and the previous owner's former dog, who has produced a litter of puppies. They have no servant to clean and cook for them, and their lodgings show it. Ruso has spent an unpleasant night examining the body of a dead woman fished out of the harbor, and then a long day on medical rounds. He doesn't need to buy an injured slave girl to rescue her from her sadistic owner, especially when she's too injured to work, won't talk, and will cost more to feed than she's worth.

So of course he does.
While he's treating the girl and coaxing her to talk, he becomes not so much interested in as worried about the deaths of two bar girls, and the lack of any investigation into their deaths. He keeps hearing more than he wants to because, to get her out of the military hospital, he rents a room for the slave girl, who finally speaks enough to decide to go by the name Tilla, upstairs in the bar. Ruso starts asking questions, and things start to happen--a burning brand through the window of his house, a trowel dropped from a rooftop and missing him only because Tilla saw it and pushed him out of the way--and his financial situation gets more and more complicated. His life is further enlivened when the hospital administrator, who has been away, returns, and demands that Tilla be pledged as collateral for the large loan he's taken out from the thanksgiving fund, to help stave of bankruptcy at home.

Ruso is cranky, impatient, and kind and generous despite himself and despite his circumstances. He keeps asking questions even when it's hurting his chances for promotion and making his working life more difficult. Tilla is proud, independent, and has every intention of killing herself rather than working as a whore in a bar (her previous owner's plan for her). As they slowly learn to trust each other, Ruso learns more about the workings of this Roman British town than he wants to know, or is safe to know.

This is a fascinating look at Roman Britain, with engaging characters and a good mystery at the core of it. The solution manages to be both fair and unexpected. This is the first of a series, and I'll be reading more of them.

Recommended.

I borrowed this book from a friend.

I'm a bit of a Roman detective nut (shocking, I know), and have read several such series. I usually jump from one series to the next, interspersing with Urban Fantasy or non-fiction reading. I read this whole series front-to-back without pause, which should give you an indication of how much I loved it.

My reviews tend to focus on setting readers' expectations rather than rehashing blurbs or plot summaries. I hope this is useful to you.
You can see my review for the whole series here.

What to Expect
Ruso is a physician, serving as a medic in Rome's Legio XX stationed in Britannia at the start of Hadrian's reign. Ruso is reluctantly (he's a doctor, dammit, not an investigator!) dragged to solve a murder no one else wants to take a close look at. Things naturally become much more complicated than anyone expects, and Ruso is both aided and frustrated by his native housekeeper Tilla.

What I liked
The absolute charm of the writing. All characters are fully fleshed, believable, with their own motivations. The writing is witty, the setting is rich, the plot thought-out, and the mysteries engaging.

These are the kind of books where you care for the characters. Downie has a knack to depict the world-views of the characters realistically, switching viewpoints from a Roman medical officer to a British peasant woman. It is clear that each character - from main to support cast - is a fully realised person, with their own agendas and biases.

The plot of the stories grips you till can't put the book down. Downie is masterfully weaving the investigations through sub-plots, distractions, daily lives, grand events - till you just have to know what happens next. Ruso may be a reluctant investigator, but he has that nagging voice in his head when things don't quite fit well, and it keeps him following and digging for the truth. Tilla has her own sense of fairness, and views on what makes the world tick.

Downie locates each book in a different town, mostly around Roman Britain - this one set in Deva (Chester), and future volumes in other places. Downie has clearly done her research, and each location comes alive with the latest modern archaeological understanding of life there seeping through her writing.

What to be aware of
These aren't the noir mysteries I normally read and recommend. While there are certainly some gruesome bits (did I mention combat medic?), these aren't your typical first-person hard-boiled detective. Rather, the stories are told in a lighter vein, in third person perspective from either Ruso or Tilla's POV (only a few scenes in the early novels, with more Tilla-time as the series progresses)

Ms Downie has experience with archaeology and Latin history, and it shows in her writing. She has elected to translate most Latin terms into modern English (e.g. calling a master 'my lord' rather then 'domine', or using 'doctor' for physician), which may sound a tad weird to those used to Latin terms from similar series.
Be aware that while it's not strictly necessary to read the books in order, it certainly helps. This is the perfect place to start reading.

Summary
I absolutely love this series. I have no idea why it took me so long to get back to it, but I am glad I did. I devoured most of the books over my holidays. which made for a very enjoyable immersive 'trip' to ancient Roman Britain.
The only 'problem' I have with giving this book its much-deserved five-stars, is that the series gets even better!

--
Assaph Mehr, author of Murder In Absentia: A story of Togas, Daggers, and Magic - for lovers of Ancient Rome, Murder Mysteries, and Urban Fantasy.