It's 76 A.D. and Marcus Didius Falco, an informer (the Roman Empire's version of a private investigator) and his wife and sleuthing partner Helena Justina, are in the midst of preparations for the family parties to celebrate the festival of Saturnalia. Against the backdrop of the festival of misrule, Falco is summoned once again to hush up a scandal threatening to embarrass the Emperor Vespasian's government.
A state prisoner has escaped from custody and must be recaptured before the end of the festival season --- but no one can officially acknowledge the prisoner is missing, which complicates Falco's search no end. The prisoner is a German tribal priestess and seer who fomented rebellion against Roman rule among the Germanic tribes. The Roman governor who finally captured her has brought her to Rome to be paraded and ritually sacrificed in his official Triumph. But the Triumph can't be held until after Saturnalia, so Veleda was confined under the watchful eye of a Roman Senator. Unfortunately, she not only managed to escape without a trace from the Senator's house, but she left in her wake the decapitated body of the Senator's noble brother-in-law.
To make matters even more complicated, Falco owes his life to Veleda. Years earlier, on another Imperial commission, Falco was sent to broker a truce with the priestess in her forest stronghold. He and his companions only escaped with their lives when Veleda allowed them to"steal" a boat and make their get away in the middle of the night. It was Helena's handsome young brother Camillus Justinus, one of Falco's companions, who persuaded the priestess to let them go. Just how Justinus accomplished this is something that Falco has never wanted to know --- but now Justinus has quarreled with his wealthy wife Claudia and vanished from his home --- and Falco suspects Justinus is preparing to throw away family, fortune and future in a heroic gesture to rescue Veleda.
Can Falco and Helena Justina find the elusive priestess and persuade her to surrender, exonerate her from the accusation of murder, stave off her execution as an enemy of Rome, hush up the scandal and appease the Emperor, prevent Camillus Justinus from wrecking his life, discover who is murdering runaway slaves, AND survive the obligatory Saturnalia family dinner parties? They have two whole weeks to get the job done, after all!
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