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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.