Marcus Didius Falco is an informer (private investigator) with a slightly sleezy reputation but a strong sense of justice. So when he helps rescue a beautiful young girl from a pair of thugs and learns of her detested uncle's plans for her marriage, he considers getting involved. When the girl is killed, he wants to find the killer! But the family's high class and importance makes it difficult, and the Emperor Vespasian wants him for a different investigation. Falco discovers the two are linked, so he reluctantly accepts the Emperor's commission - to investigate fraud and the siphoning of valuable silver from the Imperial Treasury.
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The big down-side is that to find the killer - and the silver - Falco must return to a place he hates; Brittannia. He must also go undercover as a mine slave ... a potentially fatal occupation.
This first volume in the series is a great introduction to Ancient Rome and the world of Falco. He wisecracks, fights and thinks his way into - and out of - many situations with a strong sense of justice and a unerring ability to rub some people up the wrong way!
The review of this Book prepared by Alan J. Bishop
