The Ides of June

February 29, 2016
The struggle for control of the Roman Empire in 193 C.E. provides the backdrop for Rowe’s engrossing 16th mystery featuring British pavement maker Libertus (after 2015’s The Fateful Day). After the murder of Helvetius Pertinax, who succeeded the assassinated emperor Commodus, Dedius Julianus seizes power by bribing the Praetorian Guard. Julianus, however, must contend with three challengers to his rule. Meanwhile, Libertus’s long-time patron, Gloucester senior magistrate Marcus Aurelius Septimus, fears that his support of Pertinax will lead to reprisals against him and his family. After receiving an anonymous threat, Septimus turns to Libertus for help in getting his wife and children to safety and in thwarting the murderous intentions of his unknown enemy. Libertus soon learns that other city officials have received similar threats and that one has fallen victim to a poisoner. The craftsman must use all his ingenuity to keep Marcus’s loved ones from harm while simultaneously identifying a killer. The stakes for Rowe’s hero have never been higher in this suspenseful outing.

October 14, 2013
Rowe’s 14th whodunit set in second-century Britain (after 2012’s A Whispering of Spies) offers a surprisingly undramatic story line, given the events roiling the Roman Empire at the time. News of the death of the capricious and tyrannical emperor Commodus alarms the citizens of Glevum (the modern-day Gloucester). Given the inconsistencies in reports of the cause of death, some fear that the emperor has spread the rumor of his death as a ruse to identify those opposed to his regime who might now express their political views. Against this backdrop, magistrate Gaius Mommius Genialis, who’s about to marry a widow whose first husband perished at sea, hires pavement maker Longinus Flavius Libertus to replace a mosaic in the widow’s home that the artisan once made depicting a boat. Genialis promises Libertus a large bonus if he completes the work quickly. When Genialis vanishes, ascertaining his fate becomes the book’s main puzzle. Rowe has done a better job in previous entries of mixing mystery with history.

May 1, 2016
It's AD 193 in Roman Britain. Libertus, a former slave who has been granted Roman citizenship, has been summoned by his patron, Marcus Septimus Aurelius. When Libertus arrives, he finds Marcus in a highly agitated state because he has received an anonymous threat to his life and those of his family. Unsure who might have sent the threat, Marcus commands Libertus to spirit his wife and children out of the city and away from potential danger. Then Libertus is to find out who sent the threat and why. Smuggling a prominent family out of the city is no easy trick, but it's small potatoes compared to the investigation that follows, which results in the unearthing of a dark secret involving a deadly murder, a vengeful woman, and a hidden treasure. A clever plotwith wry humor, suspense, and intriguing descriptions of life in ancient Britainplus a remarkable hero make this a superb read for historical-mystery buffs, and especially for followers of Ruth Downie's Ruso-and-Tilla series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)