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Books
Medicus: A Novel of the Roman Empire
. by Ruth Downie. Sold as Fiction, but referred to on the back as "the beloved first book in a new mystery series," so they're going for some crossover with the historical fiction there.
Gaius Petreius Ruso, the medicus (doctor) of the title, has escaped a bad marriage and subsequent divorce by running off to a post in the hinterlands of the Roman Empire, in Britannia. He shortly manages to rescue in injured slave girl and discover that the body of a dead prostitute shows signs of murder.
What I liked about the book: Ruso's voice. He's about as cranky and cynical as I get, with deadpan humor. What I didn't like as much: (spoiler protected) the too-quick resolution of the antagonistic relationship between Ruso and Tilla, the slave girl. She goes too fast from being a proud captive finding ways to escape to agreeing to come back to Ruso, as his bedmate, with no real explanation as to why her attitude changed other than he was nice to her. There's a sequel and hopefully Downie will explore the unbalanced master/slave relationship better here (er, not in the porny way :D).
A Beautiful Blue Death (Charles Lenox Mysteries)
by Charles Finch. My mom pressed this on me as I left her house weekend before last, with the explanation that it seemed sort of anachronistic to her and would I please corroborate that? I'm only a little way in, and yeah, I'm getting that anachronistic feel.
It's set in 1865 London, starring Charles Lenox, a Victorian gentleman who solves crimes. So far, so good. However, there's a big fuss over fingerprints at the murder scene, and checking Wikipedia tells me that although the utility of fingerprints to identify people was known at the time (for millennia, actually), the London police didn't do anything with them until close to the turn of the century. It's brought up in the text that it's a new science and hit-or-miss, and it's a doctor and the main character doing it, not the police, but ... I'm still somehow not buying it. Also, there's a secondary character who I've met once in the book so far whose voice and carriage reminded me much more of Bertie Wooster, or Peter Wimsey playing the man-about-town, which threw me out a bit more.
And so far I don't actually give a damn about any of the characters, which may be the most damning point of all - I'd probably be willing to forgive the vaguely anachronistic bits if only the characters engaged me. But not so far.
. by Ruth Downie. Sold as Fiction, but referred to on the back as "the beloved first book in a new mystery series," so they're going for some crossover with the historical fiction there.Gaius Petreius Ruso, the medicus (doctor) of the title, has escaped a bad marriage and subsequent divorce by running off to a post in the hinterlands of the Roman Empire, in Britannia. He shortly manages to rescue in injured slave girl and discover that the body of a dead prostitute shows signs of murder.
What I liked about the book: Ruso's voice. He's about as cranky and cynical as I get, with deadpan humor. What I didn't like as much: (spoiler protected) the too-quick resolution of the antagonistic relationship between Ruso and Tilla, the slave girl. She goes too fast from being a proud captive finding ways to escape to agreeing to come back to Ruso, as his bedmate, with no real explanation as to why her attitude changed other than he was nice to her. There's a sequel and hopefully Downie will explore the unbalanced master/slave relationship better here (er, not in the porny way :D).
A Beautiful Blue Death (Charles Lenox Mysteries)
by Charles Finch. My mom pressed this on me as I left her house weekend before last, with the explanation that it seemed sort of anachronistic to her and would I please corroborate that? I'm only a little way in, and yeah, I'm getting that anachronistic feel.It's set in 1865 London, starring Charles Lenox, a Victorian gentleman who solves crimes. So far, so good. However, there's a big fuss over fingerprints at the murder scene, and checking Wikipedia tells me that although the utility of fingerprints to identify people was known at the time (for millennia, actually), the London police didn't do anything with them until close to the turn of the century. It's brought up in the text that it's a new science and hit-or-miss, and it's a doctor and the main character doing it, not the police, but ... I'm still somehow not buying it. Also, there's a secondary character who I've met once in the book so far whose voice and carriage reminded me much more of Bertie Wooster, or Peter Wimsey playing the man-about-town, which threw me out a bit more.
And so far I don't actually give a damn about any of the characters, which may be the most damning point of all - I'd probably be willing to forgive the vaguely anachronistic bits if only the characters engaged me. But not so far.
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Obviously someone could have thought of using them in crime investigation at the time, but that person would need to be established as someone who could plausibly have that kind of idea. And, they would need to figure out techniques for comparing partial, smudged prints with clear prints taken from suspects - in the Indian identity verification schemes one compares two clear prints, which is much simpler.
The letter the magistrate was responding to (from Dr. Henry Faulds) claims he saw fingerprints used in two criminal cases - but that was in 1880.
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I think to make this plausible you need a character who reads journals like Nature and is very keen on trying any new thing he (in Victorian England this character is almost certainly a man) reads about in new domains.
Realistically, this character would try ineffective as well as effective things - one day he would be comparing fingerprints but the next he would be all for measuring the circumference of everyone's head, or something. This could have comic relief potential.
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I think it's the writer's first novel, though, so that may be a function of inexperience.
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http://www.toplessrobot.com/2009/06/all_hail_robogeisha.php
RoboGeisha!
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ANWYAY. I adore Ruso's deadpan snark. I think he is the historical ancestor for the rest of my pet Detective Type, a certain breed of cynical bastard (secret softy) loner not!Brit copper: Josephine Tey's Alan Grant, Kate Atkinson's Jackson Brodie, Discworld's Sam Vimes. I can spot them at twenty paces and love them in three pages.
Book 3, Persona Non Grata, is coming out in a week and a half. I AM AGLEE. And am delighted that other people are reading the series so that there can exist FIC NOW PLEASE.
In the UK, Medicus and Terra Incognita were originally named Ruso and the Disappearing Dancing Girls and Ruso and the Demented Doctor, respectively. Which makes me snerk.
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In turn, allow me to recommend John Maddox Roberts' Senate Populus Que Romanus (SPQR) series:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b_0_4?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=spqr+series&sprefix=spqr
It's a series of mysteries set in the last years of the Roman Republic, following Decius Metellus, a young (at least initially) man from a powerful Senatorial family, as he works his way up the ladder of Roman political rank, discovering his investigative talents as he goes. It's fairly spread out over time, too: Decius is in his 20s during book 1, but by books 11 and 12, he's 40-something.
It has an interesting narrative conceit too -- Decius is relating the events of his life from the perspective of a cranky old man who's been forced to retire from politics during Augustus' Principate.
Decius isn't totally deadpan, but he's pretty cynical. Nor is he the only one who gets to make witty remarks. There are lots of delightful barbs from various characters.
No creepy master-slave sex, either.
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