Amazon.com Book Description (ISBN 0312320183, Paperback)

Although not everyone can define 'Saturnalia' precisely, for almost everyone the Roman holiday conjures a picture of wild abandon- celebrations where all bets are off and everyone does-or tries to do-exactly what he or she wants. (And you can often guess correctly what that is likely to be.) Our playboy detective, Decius Caecilius Metellus is ready to join in the fun, until he is obliged to look into a sinister cult of witchcraft and murder whose membership list includes some very surprising names. But neither Decius nor his author neglect to paint the brilliantly colorful picture of those few days in Rome where all ordinary things stop and only the bizarre and the unbridled hold sway.