Memento Mori: A Crime Novel of the Roman Empire

Downie's eighth novel in the best-selling "Medicus" series (after Vita Brevis) opens with a fire at an inn and a body in a sacred spring. Ruso, a Roman doctor, travels with his family to the resort town of Aquae Sulis (the modern city of Bath, England) to aid fellow doctor Valens, who's been charged with murder. Valens swears he didn't kill his wife, but he did know of her affair and plans to divorce him. The wife's lover, an engineer at the baths, has been missing since the night of her murder and is also a suspect. Aquae Sulis depends on the revenue of tourists, and Ruso finds priests, engineers, shop owners, a retired centurion, and servants conspiring to cover up the crime. Ruso, Tilla, and other returning characters are charming even when they are disagreeable and entertaining as they charge into dangerous situations. As a Roman citizen married to a Briton ex-slave, Ruso navigates the political and cultural waters in a way that adds an intriguing dimension to the plot.