Review: Death and The Poet by Fiona Forsyth

14 AD.

When Dokimos the vegetable seller is found bludgeoned to death in the Black Sea town of Tomis, it’s the most exciting thing to have happened in the region for years. Now reluctantly settled into life in exile, the disgraced Roman poet Ovid helps his friend Avitius to investigate the crime, with the evidence pointing straight at a cuckolded neighbour.

But Ovid is also on edge, waiting for the most momentous death of all. Augustus, the first Emperor of Rome, is nearing his end, and the future of the whole Roman world is uncertain.

Even as far away as Tomis, this political shadow creates tension as the pompous Roman legate Flaccus thinks more of his career than solving a local murder. Avitius and Ovid become convinced that an injustice has been done in the case of the murdered vegetable seller. But Flaccus continues to turn a deaf ear.

When Ovid’s wife, Fabia, arrives unexpectedly, carrying a cryptic message from the Empress Livia, the poet becomes distracted – and another crime is committed.

Ovid hopes for a return to Rome – only to discover that he is under threat from an enemy much closer to home.

My Review

Exiled to the backwater of Tomis, Ovid the poet was the perfect picture of depression and hopelessness. Emperor Augustus was implacable, but he was also at the end of his life. Would Ovid have any better luck with the emperor’s successor? That remained to be seen. Meanwhile, he had a nasty murder or two to distract him. Apparently perpetrated by the stonemason Leocrates and abetted by the hated new governor, the murders were somehow related to the marble imported for the new temple. No witnesses—or at least, none who would come forward. Corruption? Naturally. Ovid and his friend Avitius did their best to investigate, but life was suddenly dangerous in Tomis, and they didn’t want to become the next victims. To make matters more complicated, Ovid’s semi-estranged wife appeared unannounced, sent to Tomis by Empress Livia or some undisclosed reason. What’s next?

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Meet Fiona Forsyth

Fiona studied Classics at Oxford before teaching it for 25 years. A family move to Qatar gave her the opportunity to write about ancient Rome, and she is now back in the UK, working on her seventh novel.