Aurelia Marcella Roman

The spring of 98 AD is a time of optimism in the turbulent frontier province of Britannia. The season looks set fair for peace and prosperity, and business is brisk at Aurelia Marcella's inn on the road to York. But soon a wagon arrives bearing a local farmer seeking treatment for a grievous sword wound. Before the farmer dies, he tells Aurelia his family is in grave danger and hints that her sister's family, living near him, is also threatened. Aurelia sends for her twin brother Lucius, who is a government investigator. Together they head for the eastern coast to investigate and to check out a shipwreck bearing valuable official cargo. A band of piratical Gauls is working the area-are they cover for something worse? Then friction between native farmers and Roman settlers turns into open violence. Both sides resort to terrorist tactics, all building to a terrible climax at the annual festival for the sea god. Beneath it all flows a current of subtle, personal agendas....

How far would someone go to protect corporate profits? Just days before Morris Cutter, a retired powerful oil executive, is scheduled to give a pseudo-scientific report to Congress that will delay crucial action on climate change for decades, he and his wife are found shot to death in their Greenwich, Connecticut, home. The police call it murder-suicide. The couple's son refuses to accept the official conclusion and hires Geneva Chase, crime reporter turned private detective, to prove otherwise. Genie soon learns that there are suspects everywhere, including within the deceased's immediate family. Morris Cutter's own daughter hadn't spoken with him in years, and his nephew is a climate activist with a radical organization. But Cutter's former company has a vested interest in keeping a low profile until it is able to present its mock-science on Capitol Hill. Genie is bribed, then threatened, to wrap up her investigation before the scheduled hearing date-and to concur with the police findings. When the lead scientist of the study goes missing, followed by Cutter's daughter, Genie begins to piece together what actually may have happened to Morris and Julia Cutter, putting herself in harm's way as she races to find the truth.

In late December 95 AD, Roman settlers in Britannia are preparing to celebrate Saturnalia. Innkeeper Aurelia Marcella's plans for a peaceful holiday are shattered when her brother brings bad news. An enemy in Rome is trying to destroy her family by spreading rumors that they are plotting against Caesar. Her brother has lost his job as a government investigator, the mansio is menaced by a gang of native criminals, and when a party of rich, demanding travelers arrive to stay, their quarrels and violence spill over into Aurelia's household. Then the Saturnalia banquet, highlight of the festival, culminates in tragic death. The second installment in the Aurelia Marcella series.

In 100 AD, good government under Trajan Caesar promises well for the Roman settlers in the frontier province of Britannia. Aurelia Marcella's inn on the road to York is busy. But one day two unusual events occur: a soldier is murdered in his bed at the inn, and a letter arrives from Isurium, a small fort north of the city. Her cousin, Jovina, invites Aurelia to a midsummer birthday party. But the missive ends with plea for help, referring to "danger in the wind." The murdered soldier also bore a message indicating violence would erupt at the very same fort on the day of the party. Arriving at Isurium, Aurelia finds Jovina and her family caught in a tangled web of greed, love, intrigue, and death. When violence engulfs the district, Aurelia is thrust into peril from enemies engaged in an anti-Roman plot and from family members bent on agendas of their own....