Caveat Emptor: A Novel of the Roman Empire

I was so glad to read another mystery featuring Gaius Petreius Ruso, late of the Roman legions as a medicus, and now married to Tilla, his British bride.  In Caveat Emptor: a Novel of the Roman Empire (#472) things didn't go quite as well as he had hoped when he introduced Tilla to the rest of his family in Gaul.  It seemed prudent at the time to return to his former posting and Tilla's native Britain for the sake of his new marriage.  Besides, his friend Valens had promised that there were jobs aplenty if he were to return, but that turned out not to be the case.

When Ruso is offered a temporary job as an investigator by the Assistant Procurator in Londinium he takes the assignment. His job is to discover the whereabouts of the missing tax money from the town of Verulamium,  The town has always paid its taxes on time.  According to Verulamium's  Chief Magistrate who has arrived in town, the money was signed out to Julius Asper and his brother, but now all have vanished into thin air.  But when the tax collector's very pregnant girlfriend Camma shows up in Londinium,  things become even more complicated.  She claims Asper is innocent and that the Coucil of Verulamium has plotted against him, demanding justice from the Procurater.  Is Julius Asper the thief that the Town Councilors of Verulamium claim he is, or is he the victim of foul play?  In the meantime, Tilla in championing Camma's cause, is hiding a secret of her own.  It's a deadly game being played, and Ruso can't trust anyone if he and Tilla are to come out of this investigation alive.

Like Lindsey Davis' beloved Marcus Didius Falco series, Ruth Downie has claimed the outskirts of the Roman Empire as the setting for her medical character, Gaius Petreius Ruso.  He takes his calling seriously, but he does have an open, inquiring mind which goes a long way towards explaining his reluctant participation in solving mysterious deaths, and his willingness to take on a wild British native as his wife.  What I particularly enjoy about these books (Caveat Emptor is the fourth in this series.) is the amusing dialogue and sense of humor Ms. Downie incorporates.  I know that I can settle down for several hours of being blissfully lost on the remote outskirts of the Roman Empire with Ruso, who isn't always sure just what to make of  the situation around him.  What fun!