I Read Books: A Body In The Bathhouse

 

A Body In The Bath House

Falco discovers a body buried under his new bath house; unfortunately the contractors have gone missing. His sister is in trouble; after spurning the attentions of Anacrites, the empire’s chief spy, he is taking revenge, intimidating her and damaging her possessions. To get her out of town (first century Rome) Falco takes a job for the Emperor in his most distant and unpleasant province, Britain.

A local ally, the Great King of Britain Togidubnus, has been rewarded with a palace being built for him (the Roman Palace at Fishbourne). However cost overruns, delays, difficulty in getting skilled workers and quality materials to Britain, are all causing problems, so Falco has been sent to audit the project. The question is less if someone is embezzling, and rather what of the many possible scams are occurring.

Falco travels with his wife, two infant daughters and the unhelpful nursemaid that his wife’s family has hoisted on them, as well as his two brothers-in-law who now work with him. They effectively kidnap his sister to get her away from Anacrites. Eventually arriving in rain-soaked Britain Falco discovers that Togidubnus is unhappy with the plan, as he wants to incorporate his existing large, comfortable, stone-built house; the architect disagrees, and refuses to compromise, this has the building delayed as each appeals to Rome.

Falco attempts to navigate through the various specialists, as well as the foreign and local workers, only for the architect to be found dead in the bath house. A building site is a dangerous place, especially if you are an unpopular auditor trying to catch a violent murderer. And worse still, Falco must try and balance all this with his increasingly difficult family drama.

Read This: Historical crime novel delving deep into Roman building techniques and contracting
Don’t Read This: Lot of people hang about on a building site puzzled about what’s going on