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If John Maddox Roberts has a special distinction in his detective novels about ancient Rome, it is in his attention to details about Roman customs, mores, laws, buildings, institutions, families, occupations, and all-around general life. He knows his material, and he knows it superbly. More than from anywhere else, I've learned so many facts from Roberts, such as that the famed Roman senate was not as all-powerful as I once thought. There was a balance of power in Rome that sometimes shifted from one institution to another, but usually depended on the contributions of a number of institutions to the whole. We also learn most decidedly that Rome had a paucity of names, so given combinations of names had to be used over and over again. As the author points out, at the time of his story there were five prominent members of the Caecilian family named Quintus Caecilius Metellus. In this book we see Senator Decius Caecilius Metellus the Younger, the protagonist-detective of other SPQR stories, running for the high office of praetor, but stopped cold by a little-known, low-status man from another area. When the man is found murdered, Decius is accused, and he must find the killer before he can continue the advance of his own career. Although the Metelli were a real family, I would guess that Decius is a fictional addition to it. The novel mixes real and created people as needed to make an interesting story. Some of the real people appear also in another book I reviewed recently, Conn Iggulden's EMPEROR: THE GODS OF WAR, although with somewhat different characteristics. While the time periods largely coincide, in A POINT OF LAW, for example, Brutus and Pompey play lesser roles. Caesar himself is out of Rome and does not appear directly, although he is frequently mentioned, and Caesar's great niece, Octavia, has a more prominent role to play than Caesar. Decius's investigation revolves around several great families, and he soon finds indications of a widespread conspiracy. With the aid of an attractive Egyptian mathematician and cipher expert Callista, his own wife Julia, and his former slave and now associate Hermes, he prepares to defend himself in front of a 'comitia' of plebeians, who have a built-in anti-aristocrat bias. This comitia could not try capital cases, but then murder was ordinarily a minor crime and the death penalty was not involved. Nor was evidence considered of great importance, certainly not as important as one's ability to sway the crowd. The prosecutor here is a tribune of the people, Manilius, who is also Decius's enemy. The conduct and verdict of the comitia is most interesting. I don't think the plot is paramount here. More interesting is the deft way the author conducts the reader through ancient Rome, explaining here and there so many aspects of everyday life that other authors are content to leave alone. Roberts gives life to Rome so that people, places, and institutions seem almost as real and known to us as to the Romans of old themselves. His novels are great additions to the sub-genre of Roman mystery stories.
Reviewed by Eugene Aubrey Stratton, May 2006
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