Caveat Emptor: A Novel of the Roman Empire

Ruth Downie takes her "Medicus" series to a new level of complexity and intrigue with "Caveat Emptor". This fourth book in the highly entertaining series set in Roman-ruled Britain in the Second Century AD has protagonist Gaius Petreius Ruso and his now-wife Tilla back in Londinium after a long visit to his family home in southern Gaul. Ruso, no longer an army medic, is looking for work and reluctantly accepts an assignment from the Procurator of the province to investigate the disappearance of a tax collector and a substantial amount of tax revenue from the nearby town of Verulamium (modern St. Albans). With Tilla and the missing tax collector's wife and child in tow, Ruso moves his investigation to Verulamium, to all appearances a very law-abiding and largely Romanized settlement where the local Britons talk with Babbit-like pride about their town and province. The town fathers are not happy about the possibility of criminal scandal that has come with Ruso the Investigator, and as the bodies of the tax collector and his brother turn up, civic hostility becomes increasingly dangerous for Ruso and his family and colleagues.Author Downie has crafted a very clever plot that is slowly revealed through Ruso's investigation in classic police procedural fashion albeit in the historic context in which the mystery is set. The conclusion is never predictable and is revealed only in the last few pages of the book.While the plot is clever and skillfully spun out, what I liked even more about "Caveat Emptor" was the growing complexity of the characters. The relationship between Ruso and his Briton wife Tilla is extremely complicated. To be sure, there are masculine/feminine differences at work, but this is also a pairing of two extremely different people, coming from two very different cultures (cosmopolitan vs. tribal). The two are shown to be strongly committed to each other, but they are rarely in agreement about anything--their lives together, relationships with others, how to investigate a crime, etc. That personal tension is consistently written into the entire run of the story and, for the most part, strengthens it and brings a sense of historic reality to the tale.I also thought that Downie provided a good balance of mystery story vs. historic detail in "Caveat Emptor". The plot had a modern feel to it, with its emphasis on human relationships, greed, petty power struggles, and bureaucratic bad behavior. But there is enough historic material here--living conditions, Roman medicine, transportation, burial rites, tribal relationships, etc.--to make the story original and entertaining for the reader who chooses this genre for those qualities.A very fine book in a good series that gets more interesting with each successive episode. Recommended.

I've read just about every Roman mystery series (Saylor/John Maddox Roberts/Lindsey Davis, etc) and hands-down, the Medicus series is my favorite by FAR. Not only do you get two PoV characters, but each one has a compelling voice which makes it impossible NOT to keep those pages turning. Newly-divorced Ruso's dry humor kept me laughing all the way through. Then there's Tilla, whose no-nonsense nature becomes increasingly more pronounced throughout the series.With most Roman mystery series, I have a huge problem with how late the author introduces the mystery. Sometimes the mystery doesn't play a role until midway into the book (or, gasp, later!). These works are too wrapped up in the historical background to really call themselves honest mysteries.Downie, on the other hand, introduces each book with the crime itself. By bracketing the story within that mystery, you can always expect a focused investigation with clues and all.I can NOT praise this series enough!

Gaius Petreius Ruso and Tilla, newly married, return to Britannia after a visit to his family in Gaul. They have their wedding gifts all packed but, having left the Roman legions to travel to Gaul, Ruso finds himself in Londinium without a job. His fellow Medicus, Valens, has been unable to find a Medicus position for Ruso but has found him a job as an investigator for the local procurator. Ruso is not terribly happy since he is NOT an investigator and feels wholly inadequate to do the job.It would seem that a very pregnant lady has appeared at the procurator's office to report her lover, the local tax collector, missing. Ruso is sent to a neighboring town to locate the man who, with his brother, has disappeared while on the way to Londinium with the tax monies collected in Verulamium.Of course, the chief concern of the politician's is the location of the taxes but when the tax collector's murdered body without any evidence of the the money is found, the plot, as they say, thickens.Seems that even in ancient times crime and vice in all its forms existed as often as today.: infidelity,illegitimacy, jealousy, thievery, murder, oh, yes, and counterfeiting all existed. And then, as today, corruption at high and low levels was intertwined. All of which, along with various " barbarian" and Roman factions muddying the situation, make Ruso's life miserable. As if those things were not enough, various attempts on the lives of various characters, insolent servants and Tilla's headstrong disobedience of Ruso's instructions in an effort to held, threaten to drive him mad.But as usual, all of the various dead end threads eventually get woven into a more or less satisfying solution. The plot is well developed and complex enough that the reader is just as confused and frustrated as the hero. The characters are realistically complex and at times, just as Ruso, the reader sometimes trusts and at other times distrusts the same person. All of this makes the puzzle very intriguing and keeps the reader turning the page to see what happens next.At the end, also, as a result of Tilla's loyalty to her Britannic fellows and Ruso's loyalty to Rome, as her desire to stay in Britain and his growing desire to return to Gaul, as his need to find a position as a Medicus increases with little opportunity in Londinium, the couple finds themselves at a crucial point in their relationship. Tilla wonders if they should part and Ruso find himself another wife. After four adventures with them and having watched their partnership grow and flourish, it is a decision that is as difficult for the reader to ponder as it is for them.Where will the road lead in the next book? I'm anxious to know.

I suspect Ruso was my favourite investigator of crimes by the time I’d finished the first book in Ruth Downie’s Medicus series. The second book expanded this world to include darker themes and the wild north. And by the time Ruso went home to Gaul in the third book he was not only my favourite investigator, but one of my favourite characters in any book series. Left with something of an uncertain future at the end of that book, I wasn’t sure what to expect from the fourth book, other than being sure it would be highly entertaining.Caveat Emptor takes us back to Britain, where Ruso and Tilla (now man and wife) find themselves dragged into problems galore. Tilla becomes a friend and helper to a native woman who has got herself into disastrous trouble, her man the tax collector having disappeared with the money. Ruso finds himself appointed by the province’s assistant procurator to investigate the disappearance of the tax collector and his money.What follows is a complex and thoroughly engrossing investigation taking us from the docksides of Londinium (London) to the finance offices of Verulamium (St Albans). A plot that involves a fascinating and shady cast of characters from lurking town guards to power-hungry councillors to weaselly clerks to half-blind noblemen and so on. A plot that, I might add, while I grasped parts of the solution half way through, parts kept me guessing to the end. A plot that is not all it seems at any given point.But once more, the major wins of the book are the main characters and Ruth’s writing. Having met Ruth now, and discovered what a truly nice lady she is, it amazes me how she seems to be able to get into the mindset of hen-pecked males or vicious mysogenists or the like so well that they read as truly authentic. Ruso is at times hapless, at times heroic, mostly beleaguered and often confused. He is a man who tries to do the right thing, even though at times he’d like nothing more than to do the wrong one. Tilla is no barbarian, nor is she a Roman matron. She is not a charicature but a person, with all the complexity that implies. And as always with Ruth’s writing, the threads of gentle quirky humour that run throughout add counterpoint to the seriousness of the situations in which they find themselves and make the books something special and a delight to read.As a last treat, here’s just a taster of the sort of writing that makes me love Ruth’s work:As the ostler had promised, the ginger mare was keen to go – but not necessarily forward. After winning the argument over which of them was steering, Ruso urged it out under the archway and onto the wide expanse of the North road.If that kind of writing doesn’t make you want to read, then I reckon nothing will.Caveat Emptor. A beautifully constructed mystery. And now I go on to read the next book – Semper Fidelis.

The intrepid Ruso former legionary doctor returns in Ruth Downies fourth instalment in Caveat Emptor (US version). He also returns to Britannia in tow with his new wife, Tilla after staying with his family in Gaul. I have to admit its irritating to find that the names of the books in the US and Britain differ and you have to grub around each time a book is released. If you want a hardback version you have to order from the US as well and its annoying.The above said in Caveat Emptor, the book opens with Ruso returning to Britain and landing at the port of Londunium where he meets his friend and former legionary surgeon Vallens. Ruso is hoping to return to his old trade but when a tax collector and his brother disappear on route to the settlement, he is 'volunteered' to investigate the circumstances of the disappearance of the brothers and the money.It's not long before the one of the bodies turns up dead not too far away from where Ruso is staying and rumours spread that he must have been killed by his brother who has ran off with the cash. As usual things are not as they appear and Ruso soon finds links with the Iceni and Catuvellanni as his enquiries begin. With Tilla wanting a baby Ruso is more than happy when he goes off in search of the truth.It's not long however, before Tilla turns up in company with a woman claiming to be the great grand daughter of none other than Boudica and she is heavily pregnant with the unborn baby of the dead man. With counterfeit coins, corrupt officials and deserters from the Roman army and with the threat of the Iceni, Ruso has his work cut out as he soon becomes a target for the men who have a vested interest in covering what what actually happened. It's another good book by Ruth Downie where the reader can expect to laugh and enjoy Ruso's exploits!

I’ve been loving this series of novels. They are well researched and well written; the pace is good and the characters are interesting (I particularly like Tilla). But I thought this fourth entry rather fell down on the plot. It was still very readable, but I thought the end was rather confusing and muddled - shame.

Poor old Ruso is finding it hard to be a detective when everyone around him is playing games to conceal the truth. Best book so far

I have recently discovered this series of books and as I love anything about Ancient Rome, these are a worthy follow up to those written by Lindsay Davies. And also set at a later Roman period in Britannia which is less well known. Will certainly to get my hands on more episodes.