pickOn a visit to his adoptive daughter and her husband for the Winter Festival, Marcus Corvinus is asked to investigate the death of a local worthy found with his head bashed in outside the back door to a brothel.
Less convoluted than the high politics stories. Closely tied to a previous instalment in the series which I have only the vaguest memory of.
"‘Nonsense, Marcus! Phormio‘s an excellent chef.‘ She paused. Perilla can be pretty dogmatic, sure, but at root she‘s fair and honest. ‘In his way. By his own lights. Within certain parameters. It‘s simply that he can be rather too … inventive at times.‘"
pickAn organised crime boss's wife asks Marcus Corvinus to help her trace her missing son from a previous marriage.
A quick read novella which functions as just an excuse to see Marcus Corvinus again.
pickDion, Macro's former secretary, delivers a posthumous letter from Macro to Marcus Corvinus asking him to clear Macro's name. As soon becomes apparent, Macro never had a secretary called Dion and the letter is a forgery.
It's been a long time since I last read a book in this series, so I didn't always follow references to previous events, but I still love Corvinus's narrative voice. I really mustn't leave such a long gap next time.
No time for cleaning the house, I‘m afraid. Today Corvinus and I are unravelling a conspiracy in ancient Rome.
pickMarcus Corvinus is summoned to his aunt-in-law's village by his adopted daughter because she suspects a neighbour may have been poisoned rather than succumbed to a longstanding degenerative disease.
I love Corvinus's 'voice'. Although the mystery itself was fairly run of the mill, it is just so much fun the way Corvinus tells it.
