The Emperor’s Servant

by Fiona Forsyth Book 2 in the Lucius Sestius Mysteries series.

First published 2022

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4.3(307)

Rome, 23 BC. Lucius Sestius has survived defeat at Philippi, received Augustus’s pardon and withdrawn to his estate at Cosa, where farming and wine offer distance from politics. When the gravely ill emperor gives up the consulship, Lucius is summoned to complete the term. His reluctant return places him in charge while disease spreads through Italy and the Tiber threatens the city, making administration as dangerous as military service.

The trial of the Macedonian commander Marcus Primus and the implication of Lucius’s friend Aulus expose a conspiracy that Augustus interprets as a direct threat to his settlement. Lucius tries to protect his family and avoid choosing between republican friendships and imperial authority, but helping Aulus flee brings the emperor’s anger into his household. The novel examines how Augustus turns emergency government into personal power and how a former opponent must serve the regime without surrendering every loyalty formed before it.