A Whispering of Spies

Starred review from June 4, 2012
Clever plot shifts and fully realized characters distinguish Rowe’s 13th second-century Roman Britain mystery featuring pavement-maker Libertus (after 2011’s The Vestal Vanishes). Libertus’s influential, if capricious, patron, Marcus Septimus Aurelius, asks for his help in ascertaining whether an invitation to dine should be accepted. The question arises because of the immense wealth of the meal’s host, Voluus, newly arrived in Glevum (modern-day Gloucester) from Gaul, where he was “personal attendant, bodyguard and on-the-spot torturer and executioner for the outgoing governor of Gaul.” Aurelius is concerned that the man’s riches far exceed what his salary would have been. If it turns out the gains were ill-gotten, Aurelius’s standing might suffer. What should be a relatively straightforward assignment becomes geometrically more complex after some of Voluus’s treasure is stolen in a violent attack that leaves four bodyguards dead with their mounts disemboweled—and Libertus a suspect. Rowe offers one of her most ingenious solutions.

August 1, 2012
A favor for his wealthy patron puts a Roman citizen of Britain in a dangerous predicament. In A.D. 191, when Britain has been a Roman province for over 200 years, ex-lictor Voluus plans to make the city of Glevum his retirement home. The wealthy but ill-tempered retiree has already hired an apartment and bought property to build a house for his family, none of whom have arrived. Pavement-maker Libertus is sent by his powerful patron Marcus Septimus Aurelius to seek information about the new arrival by offering his services to Voluus' steward Calvinus. After his visit, one of the carts carrying part of Voluus' treasure is found empty, and all the guards and even the horses have been slaughtered. Members of the council who have had spies watching Voluus' household accuse Libertus of the crime. All the spies' information may be open to interpretation, but Libertus has a difficult time explaining it away. He's arrested and held by the commander of the local fort, who's had dealings with Libertus before and is so disposed to believe him that he takes him to the scene of the crime, where all is not as it seems. With his adopted son and a slave of Voluus' doing some of the investigating, Libertus must find the actual criminal or face exile under Roman law. Historical details provide the principal pleasures in Libertus' 13th case (The Vestal Vanishes, 2011, etc.), but the mystery still poses a challenge.

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August 1, 2012

Libertus, the puzzle master of ancient England (191 CE), is on the run once again in his 13th case (after The Vestal Vanishes), when he is falsely accused of being involved in a local massacre.

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2012
Rowe's excellent Libertus of Roman Britain series features all the ingredients historical-mystery fans are likely to want: meaty plots, authentic detail, realistic period ambience, and a genuinely likable hero. Her latest has Libertus involved in investigating the theft of a priceless treasure of gold, jewels, furniture, and money belonging to the governor of Gaul's lictor and the grisly murder of the caravan of guards accompanying the treasure on its way from Gaul to Britain. The most shocking part of the case is that Libertus himself is a suspect. The evidence against him seems irrefutable, and even his patron, the powerful magistrate Marcus Septimus Aurelius, may not be able to save him unless Libertus can discover the real perpetrator. Without any of the tools that support modern-day murder investigations, Libertus relies on intuition and a keen analytical mind to avoid a grisly fate. Fans of other series set in ancient Rome by Steven Saylor, Kelli Stanley, and Lindsey Davis, among others, should add Rowe to their reading lists.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)