Ruso and the Demented Doctor (edition 2008)

Terra Incognita is the 2nd installment of Ruth Downie's Roman Empire series. It is set in 118 AD Brittania and features Roman Empire Legionaire medic Gaius Petreius Ruso and his housekeeper/lover Tilla from Brittania. In this story Ruso and Tilla travel to the northern Brittania town of Coria, near Tilla's childhood home, where headless bodies are being found. The locals believe that an antlered man sent by one of their gods, Cernunnos, is responsible. However, one of the other medics, Thessalus, has confessed to the crime as he is terminally ill and wants to save another man from the noose. Thessalus feels it is better that he be executed since his life will end soon anyway. Ruso cannot accept this and decides he must use his forensic skills to determine who the killer is.

I love this series. All of the books are light reads and it is hard to figure out who the killer is. Downie fools me every time. The characters seem eccentric to a 21st century person but this adds to the book's appeal. Highly recommended. ( )

A worthy follow-up to Downie's Medicus, which is also set in Roman Britain at the height of the Roman Empire. This time the mystery revolves the murder of an enterprising Roman trumpeter, who ends up dead in an alley. The murder may presage a general revolt by the Britons, so Ruso's investigation is not welcomed by Metellus, the political officer charged with keeping the lid on unrest. Tilla is her usual, sometimes annoying self, although much of the annoyance she causes Ruso comes from cultural and language barriers.

Worth reading, but probably not worth re-reading. ( )

Perfectly fun summer reading. ( )

Another good book about Ruso. I like historical novels and the mystery thrown in this time has Ruso running into more wild characters. ( )

The second installment in the adventures of Roman army medic Gaius Petreius Ruso is an improvement in some ways on the first (see my review of “Medicus” for details of the prequel). Ms. Downie’s prose style is more fluid and descriptive passages improved. I still find myself lost in space if not in time, as she fails to provide adequate depictions of the landscape or Coria, the town that serves as this novel’s setting. The plotting is rather thin, the straight-forward investigation of a crime by a rather bumbling amateur. No great feats of deduction here, just questioning people (and occasionally getting knocked about) until the truth emerges. But I think my biggest complaint about both books is the protagonist, and I readily admit that it’s a matter of personal taste. Ruso is a blockhead. Other than an admirable sense of honor, he shows no particular aptitude for detective work or for keeping his personal life on an even keel. He’s a weak lead character, in my view, because he fails to have any strong motivation. His attachment to his slave/lover Tilla is growing and provides most of his impetus in this book, but even here he is prepared to leave her. I can only give this volume a middling recommendation. ( )