Medicus

A Novel of the Roman Empire

By: Ruth Downie

Narrated by: Simon Vance

Gaius Petrius Ruso is a divorced and down-on-his-luck army doctor who has made the rash decision to seek his fortune in an inclement outpost of the Roman Empire, namely Britannia. His arrival in Deva (more commonly known today as Chester, England) does little to improve his mood, and after a 36-hour shift at the army hospital, he succumbs to a moment of weakness and rescues an injured slave girl, Tilla, from the hands of her abusive owner.

Now he has a new problem: a slave who won't talk and can't cook, and drags trouble in her wake. Before he knows it, Ruso is caught in the middle of an investigation into the deaths of prostitutes working out of the local bar.

A few years earlier, after he rescued Emperor Trajan from an earthquake in Antioch, Ruso seemed headed for glory: now he's living among heathens in a vermin-infested bachelor pad and must summon all his forensic knowledge to find a killer who may be after him next.

Who are the true barbarians, the conquered or the conquerors? It's up to Ruso (certainly the most likeable sleuth to come out of the Roman Empire) to discover the truth. With a gift for comic timing and historic detail, Ruth Downie has conjured an ancient world as raucous and real as our own.

©2007 Ruth Downie; (P)2007 Tantor Media Inc.

Critic reviews

"Downie's auspicious debut sparkles with beguiling characters and a vividly imagined evocation of a hazy frontier." (Publishers Weekly)
"Fans of Alexander McCall Smith will delight in this series debut set in Roman-occupied Britain and featuring wry army doctor Gaius Petreius Ruso." (Booklist)

Enjoyed it!

Very interesting, and of course you can't go wrong with Simon. Give it a shot!

Reminds me very much of McCammon's Mathew Corbett series

Very smooth & moves nicely throughout. Narrator is great, too. I thought it portrayed Britain just before Hadrian's Wall very nicely, without overdoing the historical details. Not that I don't like some of that. Review by Rick

Good Story

This story was well written for the most part, but I felt it got a little wordy is some spots. I love the ending, things were not left hanging all the lose ends were tied up nicely. I got a little confussed a couple times, so I had to rewind it. This wasn't terribly suspensful, but I must have had enough to keep me reading. I hope I didn"t give any thing away.

Facinating!! Performance outstanding!

Loved every intriguing word. Can not wait to listen to the next. The performance was wonderful.

Enjoyable!

I really liked this book. It was a good murder mystery set in interesting times with interesting characters. The narrater was very good. What more could you want?