Customer Reviews
Third in this Excellent Series - By: J. Chippindale, 26 Feb 2007 
John Maddox Roberts is the pseudonym of Mark Ramsay, author of numerous works of science fiction & fantasy,in addition to his successful historical SPQR mystery series. He livesin New Mexico with his wife.
There are more secret societies & strange rites than you can shake a stick atin the Ancient city of Rome, most of them admittedly for the male section of the population, but asin any other period of history the female of the species hates to be left out & so they have their own secret rites & woe betide any man seen taking an interestin these events.
Naturally when one of the women's sacred meeting is infiltrated by a corrupt patrician dressedin female attire, Decius Caecilius Metellus the Younger is broughtin to unmask the suspects. When four brutal killings occur it becomes obvious that the infiltrators are not just peeping toms & Decius enlists the help of a notorious criminal.
Between them the pair establish a link between the infiltration of the women's sacred rites & the murders & this leads Decius from the long rung of the ladder of society up to the heights of the upper class, finding violence & corruption along the way . . .
The Sherlock Holmes of ancient Rome is back... Marvelous!! - By: P.M.Doralt@usa.net, 13 Dec 2000 When the decadent tribune Clodius is caught infiltrating the city's most sacred women's rite, who else but Decius Caecilius Metellus should be called upon to investigate the sacrilege that has all of Rome talking. As Decius begins to uncover a dangerous web of intrigues, four brutal murders occur. Decius knows his own survival is at stake, if he can't find the perpetrators soon. But readers familiar with the SPQR series know, this has never damped his irreverent sense of humor, which makes "Decius" stand out. During the past 2000 years, many explanations have been given as to what Clodius up to on the night of the sacrilege. John Maddox Roberts's story is definitely the most entertaining one. The level of historical accuracy is astonishing. The plot & the characters are utterly convincing. One can only hope that more of the series will soon be re-printedin English...
