Fabulous! A traditional English country house mystery translated to the Roman world, even featuring the mandatory body in the bibliotheca.
The Place
Roman Britain of 186. Our detective is named Libertus because he is a freed slave. He is also a Celt, with a skill for making beautiful mosaics.
The Plot
The most unpleasant Germanicus was feared and hated, so much so that it wasn’t really too surprising he would wind up murdered. But now his ghost is to be equally feared as, with his head and hand incinerated, there’s no place to put the coins to pay for the ferryman to carry his soul to the land of the dead.
Libertus the freedman is called in to help solve the mystery of the murder in the library.
My Amazon link : The Germanicus Mosaic
If you’re a fan of Hercule Poirot, you’ll enjoy the Libertus mysteries created by Rosemary Rowe.
Former Celtic warrior, now a Roman citizen and respectable tradesman, Libertus is a clear-thinking, methodical man with an almost uncanny ability to see the patterns underlying perplexing events. He fits pieces of the puzzle together in the same way that he creates his mosaics, piece by piece, shape by shape.
His wealthy patron, Marcus Septimus Aurelius, the most important magistrate in late second century Britain, frequently calls on Libertus to solve baffling murders.
