Death and the Poet

Tomis, AD 14. Ovid has established a reluctant routine in exile when the vegetable seller Dokimos is found beaten to death. The evidence appears to identify a jealous neighbour, but Ovid and Marcus Avitius suspect that the local authorities have accepted the easiest answer. Their inquiry is complicated by the declining health of Augustus, whose approaching death makes every Roman official on the frontier anxious about advancement under the next emperor.

Ovid’s wife Fabia arrives from Rome carrying a cryptic message from Livia and becomes an active participant in the investigation. Another crime exposes corruption protected by the legate Flaccus, while Ovid’s hope of recall depends on interpreting the intentions of both the imperial household and enemies closer to Tomis. The transition from Augustus to Tiberius shadows the murder case, showing how a provincial injustice can be sustained by officials more concerned with the succession than with the death of an ordinary man.