Description:

Every culture has its wild entertainment, but the Roman Saturnalia is looked upon as the granddaddy of them all. Roberts's vivid fictional account of the annual event takes place in first century Rome is a historically correct picture of excess, with the city's ordinary life shut down, all rules and most laws inoperative, and even slaves permitted to celebrate without restraint. At the same time, the noted family of Decius Caecilius Metellus the Younger have reluctantly summoned the young playboy, banished to the island of Rhodes for his wild ways, to seek his help in solving a crime that touches them directly and dangerously. They need him to use his investigative talents to look into the poison death of a politically powerful relative and the suspicion that it is the man's wife who administered the dose. Decius, convinced she is innocent (of this murder, at any rate) looks further for the killer---a quest that leads him to a secret, banned cult of witchcraft being practiced by highborn Romans of both sexes. With the witches at his heels, Decius plunges into the maelstrom of Rome at the height of Saturnalia, and barely escapes with his life. ** ### From Publishers Weekly Sporting an anachronistic, decidedly modern-day sensibility, the Roman senator Decius Caecilius Metellus the Younger returns to his native Rome from Rhodes at a time when Julius Caesar is beginning his rise to power. Worldly and a bit of a playboy, the prodigal son has been recalled by his family to investigate the death by poisoning of Celer, a wealthy and influential relative. The dead man's wife, Clodia, flaunts most conventional notions of common decency and is clearly capable of murder. She has also been spotted cavorting with witches during the wild Saturnalia celebrations, which are rumored to include a human sacrifice. Decius's father is convinced Clodia is the killer. But her brother, Clodius, an implacable political rival of the Metellus clan, also asks Decius to investigate. He's convinced his sister is innocentAof this crime at least. Decius must balance his devotion to the truth with his family loyalty and pick his way gingerly through the dangerous political intrigues of imperial Rome. Roberts (SPQR IV: The Temple of the Muses, etc.) unleashes a barrage of plots and personalities as he re-creates the lavishness of patrician Roman life. The plot is less engrossing than the setting, but the treacherous atmosphere lingers, as does the wily, if decent Decius. (Nov.) Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. ### From Kirkus Reviews In ancient Rome, they celebrated the winter solstice with boozing, brawling, and similar manifestations of indecorous behaviorthe Saturnalia. What more fitting time, then, for that party animal Decius Caecilius Metellus the Younger to return from exile in Rhodesia where his disapproving family parked him to keep him harmless? A situation has arisen tailor-made for his special talents, Decius being a gifted snoop. In general, snooping was not regarded with warmth by Roman aristocracy, but circumstances do alter cases. For good and sufficient reasons, the Metellus family views the Lady Clodia as a dangerous political enemy, and if it can be demonstrated that she willfully and with malice aforethought poisoned her husband (Decius' kinsman), permanent exile would result forthwith. That's your job, the family paterfamilias tells Decius in no uncertan terms. But Lady Clodia is the sister of Tribune Clodius, next to Julius Caesar the most powerful figure in Rome. Your job is to prove Clodia innocent, Clodius tells Decius, in terms equally unequivocal, leaving Decius to fill in the scary blanks. Needless to say Decius successfully charts a course between Scylla and Charybdis, thus serving justice, fulfilling family obligations, and saving his precious skin. He also does some whooping it up along the way. Too talky, too thinly plotted, and Decius is a charmless rake for whom it's hard to work up much empathy. This out of print series is being republished, St. Martin's says, in response to popular appeal. But Steven Saylor does ancient Rome better, and Roberts does better with his Gabe Treloar series (Desperate Highways, 1997, etc.). -- *Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.*