Marilyn Todd

Disturbed by reports that her mother-in-law is about to remarry, which would give control of the family property to her new husband, Claudia tries to find out if it is a love match or a fortune hunter.

Nice twisty penultimate episode in this series.

For various reasons Claudia Sefirius decides she would be better off temporarily absenting herself from Rome, so when the opportunity comes to escort a retiring Vestal Virgin back to her family in Sicily, she leaps at the chance. The Vestal Virgin and her family all seem to be completely cuckoo and an annoying fortune teller just will not take no for an answer. And then Claudia finds a dead body.

This book started off very, very funny with lots of laugh out loud moments (I nearly did myself show more a serious mischief trying not to in Starbucks) but gradually turns darker and darker as the horrors mount up. Less of a romp than the first one but still well worth reading. show less

Claudia Seferius's stepdaughter has been abducted and although sorely tempted to let the kidnappers keep the sullen little so-and-so, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. Especially when her bodyguard has been arrested on a capital offence and Marcus Orbilio has also been placed under house arrest when a skeleton is found in the extension work he was doing on his house.

All good rollicking fun despite some really nasty moments.

Claudia travels to Santonum in Gaul hoping to trace her father, who disappeared when she was 10.

A much better entry in the series than the last one. Witty to the point I was having to stifle my giggles. Of the two mysterious characters (the Watcher and the Scarecrow) one turned out to be who I was expecting, the other didn't. Did Claudia and Orbilio get enough of a shock in the last few chapters to wake them up? I do hope so.