#1 – Medicus
In AD 117, army doctor Gaius Petreius Ruso arrives at Deva in Roman Britain hoping to repair his finances and rebuild his career. Instead he acquires an injured British slave called Tilla and becomes involved in the deaths of women working around the legionary settlement, crimes…
#2 – Terra Incognita
Ruso travels north with the Twentieth Legion to Coria, where the local doctor has confessed to murder but appears incapable of explaining what happened. Tilla’s connections to the region draw the couple into hostility between soldiers, civilians and British communities living beyond the more settled parts…
#3 – Persona Non Grata
A forged summons brings Ruso and Tilla to his family home in southern Gaul, where the estate is burdened by debt and Ruso’s brother-in-law has disappeared. When the family’s principal creditor is poisoned under their roof, suspicion falls on a household already divided by money, marriage…
#4 – Caveat Emptor
Newly married, Ruso and Tilla return to Britain expecting to establish a home. Ruso instead accepts a temporary commission to find Julius Asper, a missing tax collector from Verulamium, and discovers that public money has vanished with him. As the search becomes a murder inquiry, forged…
#5 – Semper Fidelis
Ruso rejoins the Twentieth Legion as Emperor Hadrian and Empress Sabina prepare to inspect Britain’s northern defences. At Eboracum, unexplained injuries and deaths among British recruits suggest that the legion’s celebrated discipline conceals systematic brutality. Ruso’s questions place him against officers determined to protect the unit’s…
#6 – Tabula Rasa
Ruso serves the troops and labourers building Hadrian’s Wall while Tilla attempts to mediate between Roman officials and local communities whose land and customs are being disrupted. The disappearance of Ruso’s clerk is followed by the loss of a British boy whose family believes the Romans…
#7 – Vita Brevis
Ruso and Tilla arrive in Rome with their infant daughter and take over a medical practice whose previous owner has disappeared. Their new home comes with aggressive creditors, unreliable tenants and a dead man concealed in a barrel, leaving Ruso responsible for a mystery that could…
#8 – Memento Mori
Ruso and Tilla travel to Aquae Sulis after the wife of their friend Valens is found stabbed in the sacred spring. Temple officials fear that a public murder inquiry will damage the sanctuary’s reputation, while the victim’s family accuses Valens and demands that he submit to…