Plot: The usual muddled crime plot, helped along by coincidences and a few leaps of logic. A few little side plots, but not quite as many as the city-bound books usually have. The historical setting is there, but in the background.

Characters: Decius, as always, is wonderful, as are the other established characters. Unfortunately history has eliminated a lot of the historical ones by now, and they're missed. The suspects are not very interesting in this round, and feel flat and out-of-the-box.

Style: The usual tongue-in-cheek writing, which really is what makes those books so much fun to read. What is lacking are those little scenes of everyday life, which makes the story feel relatively distant.

Plus: Cults and religion as the background, which is always interesting to see.

Minus: Routine has set in, which together with the out-of-Rome setting makes the story move very slowly.

Summary: Worth reading, but far from the best in the series. ( )