With her usual wry style and meticulous historical detail, Davis tackles the nightmare years of the tyrannical Emperor Domitian, last and unluckiest of the Flavian emperors, who ruled the Roman Empire from 80 to 96 A.D. and was assassinated by members of his own inner circle.
Domitian began his reign under suspicion of conniving in the death of his elder brother and popular predecessor, Titus. Consumed with suspicions and dire forebodings, Domitian trusted no one, saw enemies everywhere, and struck indiscriminately, ultimately turning even loyal friends into terrified foes, until his murder became a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Davis presents her story through the eyes of a high ranking Praetorian Guard, Gaius Vinius Clodianus, and his inamorata Flavia Lucilla, a freedwoman with her own connections at court. There are several tantalizing glimpses of minor characters who also happen to appear in Davis' popular Marcus Didio Falco mystery series, set in Rome during the prior reign of Domitian's father Vespasian.
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