The Year of the Snake

by M. J. Trow Book 1 in the The Calidus series.

First published 2018

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3.9(435)

First-century Rome. Senator Gaius Lucius Nerva falls ill after a dinner party and dies a few days later. His wife is told that the death was natural, but Calidus, Nerva’s recently freed slave and trusted steward, believes his former master was poisoned. With no official standing and little protection, he begins questioning the people who attended the meal and follows the trail through households where status can be more powerful than evidence.

Calidus’s enquiries carry him from the lives of slaves and freedmen into senatorial society and the dangerous orbit of Emperor Nero. His search for justice is complicated by old loyalties, family responsibilities and the knowledge that an inconvenient investigator can disappear as easily as a victim. The mystery uses the restrictions of Roman law and hierarchy as practical obstacles while exposing the political fear surrounding Nero’s court.