In At The Death

In At The Death by David Wishart has his Roman sleuth Marcus Corvinus risking more bruises as he tries to solve the murder of a young aristocrat who was supposed to have commited suicide by throwing himself from the top story of an Aventine tenement building. Engaged, for Marcus does not feel insulted by the offer of money, by the head of the Green chariot racing team to investigate he soon finds a complex plot that goes far beyond the compensation scam that he originaly believes is behind the death and finds him once again offending the rich and powerful as he tries to find the truth. Smart and persistant as he is he discovers that there are minds far more devious than he could imagine and plots deeper and more dangerous than even a well connected sprig of the aristocracy like Marcus can tangle with and survive unscathed. A pity we are not told that Marcus managed to collect his fee from the leader of the Greens after all he went through he certainly deserved it. Once again this Classics scholar turned novelist has taken us on a highly entertaining journey through the darker passages of the endlessly fascinating city of Rome.