The Chariots of Calyx

by Rosemary Rowe

I picked this up at the local library, and have since been startled to find it's the fourth in what is now a 13-book series set in Roman Britain in the second century A.D.

The series features a talented but unofficial sleuth: Longinius Flavius Libertus, whose surname is significant: he was a Celtic noble who, two decades earlier, was captured and sold into slavery. 

Ten years before this story begins, his Roman master died and bequeathed to him his freedom -- and his three names, which was standard for Roman citizens. Libertus is now a pavement-maker who lives in Londinium, and who has spent what spare time he can find in searching for his wife, Gwellia. She was captured at the same time as he was, but she was sold elsewhere.

Chariots of Calyx opens with the governor of Britannia, Publius Helvius Pertinax, calling on Libertus to investigate the brutal murder of a senior official of the city. Caius Monnius Loveinius (yes, the names can drive you nuts) was a frumentarius: the person in each province who was responsible for the collection, storage and distribution of grain (in the novel Rowe uses the word 'corn,' which was a casual term for grains in general). Not surprisingly, the position also offers almost unlimited opportunities for graft and corruption -- and few of these officials turned down those opportunities. So when Libertus asks who might have wanted Monnius dead … well, it's not exactly a short list. Included in this list is the man's young wife, whom he treats deplorably.

Libertus' investigations take him from the world of rich merchants into the world of racing, once it becomes known Monnius' wife was having an affair with a charioteer (the equivalent of rock stars in ancient Rome). But then another body crops up … and Libertus himself is captured and tortured for information … and the case starts to develop nasty undertones that suggest there's more to it than anybody initially suspected.

Overall, I enjoyed the book. I'd like to read more of the series, but have to admit that it didn't enthral me enough to make me want to run out and get another book right this minute.

My biggest complaint was … the last page was just one sentence too long.