Medicus

I’m interested in Roman Britain, but I didn’t expect to love this book as much as I did. It’s a wonderful read.

The Medicus of the title, army doctor Gaius Petreius Ruso, and his resolute British friend Tilla are instantly engaging, while the setting is accurately and vividly drawn.

Downie writes a gripping story that tells us a great deal about the Roman Empire, but she wears her learning lightly. She draws irresistible parallels with the modern world without ever straying into anachronism.

This is such a good story that I read it twice just to try to understand how… show more.

This is the first book in Downie’s Medicus series, a series of crime novels based around Ruso, a Roman military doctor. Ruso finds himself based in Britain, in an attempt to escape his past, and finds himself reluctantly drawn into a series of mysterious deaths of women working at a local bar. He also finds himself unexpectedly buying Tilla, a British woman, to rescue her from her abusive previous owner – so with a new job, a new household, and a new set of questions to answer, he has plenty on his plate. Downie spins an excellent murder mystery and… show more.