Eggnog Murder by Leslie Meier

Eggnog Murder by Leslie Meier, Lee Hollis, and Barbara Ross, 343 pages

What could be better to read during the holidays than a book of cozy murder mysteries involving eggnog!  I love Leslie Meier novels and this is the perfect short mystery to read for Christmas.  Homemaker/reporter Lucy Stone has to find out who poisoned the eggnog that killed a popular towns person.  Did a member of the Real Bearded Santa Claus club poison the eggnog or someone else?  Will Lucy solve the mystery before someone else falls victim?

Vita Brevis by Ruth Downie

Vita Brevis: A Gaius Ruso Mystery by Ruth Downie --- 368 pages including Author's Note

This is the seventh book in Downie's Medicus series of mysteries set in the waning years of the Roman Empire.

Gaius Petreius Ruso, formerly a medical officer for the 20th Legion serving in Britannia, his British wife Tilla and their adopted baby daughter Mara have upped stakes and moved to the city of Rome.  Ruso has accepted an offer from his former tribune, Publius Accius, to exchange the (relative) security of an army career and come along and seek his fortune in the heart of the Imperium.

Unfortunately, Accius proves to be an unfortunate choice for a patron, as his aristocratic family does not stand high in the favor of the current Emperor Hadrian.  Accius had hoped to be appointed to a high office to begin his climb up the ladder to success; instead he has been put in charge of the municipal department of street cleaning. So Ruso has been left to mostly fend for himself, trying to find a medical post to tide his family over while he waits for Accius to deliver on his big promises.

What Accius finally delivers is a temporary job filling in for Dr. Kleitos, a Greek freedman who's been called out of town on family business. Kleitos is also the trusted personal physician of one of Rome's biggest real estate developers, Horatius Balbus --- a very wealthy man who just happens to be the father of the the young woman Accius wants to marry.

But Ruso tells himself it's a start, and a chance to move his family into decent lodgings instead of the bug-infested slum they've been renting (from that selfsame Horatius Balbus). What neither Ruso or Tilla expect is the dead man they find stuffed into a barrel that is sitting on the porch of their new apartment when they arrive. Nor did they anticipate that Dr. Kleitos, his family, and all of their belongings (including the records of Kleitos' medical practice) would vanish into the night, leaving behind nothing but a cryptic note "Be careful who you trust."

Meanwhile Horatius Balbus demands that Ruso continue to supply him with the "theriac" --- a concoction which is supposed to build up resistance to poisons --- that Kleitos had prescribed. But without Kleitos' medical notes Ruso has no way to duplicate the prescription.  He attempts to put together a harmless substitute to satisfy his demanding patient while he consults with another practitioner. But then, to his horror, Horatio Balbus collapses and dies in the street while returning from a dinner in the house of a business rival.

Is Ruso responsible for the death of his patient? Or was Horatius Balbus poisoned by his rival? Or was he murdered by someone else who intends for Ruso to take the blame?  Behind the glittering facade of Imperial Rome lurks a world of danger for those burdened by conscience like Ruso and Tilla.

Click HERE to read the review from Kirkus.

Click HERE to read the review from Publishers Weekly.

Click HERE to read a review from the Italophile blog.

Persona Non Grata by Ruth Downie

Persona Non Grata: ANovel of the Roman Empire by Ruth Downie --- 348 pages

Third novel in Ruth Downie's entertaining series of historical mysteries set on the frontier of the declining Roman Empire during the reign of the Emperor Hadrian.

Gaius Ruso works as a contract medicus or doctor for the Twentieth Legion in the wilds of Britannia, so he can send money home to his family in southern Gaul to pay off the mountain of debts left behind by his late father. One day he receives a terse message from his brother Lucius, demanding his immediate return home. So Ruso wrangles several months of emergency leave and sets off for Nemausus, accompanied by his British housekeeper (and lover) Tilla (Darlughdacha of the Corionotatae of the Brigantes).

But when he arrives home Ruso is greeted not with relief but with consternation --- it seems that Lucius not only did not summon him but in actuality Ruso's presence is likely to make a bad situation worse. There is an arcane Roman law that says a Roman citizen engaged on public service in a foreign country cannot be sued for debts at home. Furthermore, despite his best intentions, Ruso has never quite gotten around to breaking the news to his family that he has acquired a British (barbarian) companion. And his stepmother is convinced that the best way to solve the family's financial problems is for Ruso to immediately marry the wealthy widow next door.

But that's only the beginning of Ruso's woes. It turns out that the family's chief creditor and instigator of the suit that is threatening them with ruin, a weasel-faced fellow called Serverus, is also the less than desirable second husband of Ruso's ex-wife Claudia.  Serverus arrives on Ruso's doorstep to discuss a settlement, only to collapse, declaring that he has been poisoned. In order to protect himself and his family from ruin, Ruso needs to figure out who murdered Severus and more importantly, why.

Meanwhile Tilla is feeling lonely and a little lost, far from her own people and country, and not very welcomed by Ruso's relations, who look down their noses at the barbarian. When one of the household slaves is kind to her, Tilla goes off at Galla's invitation to meet her "family," and has her first encounter with the followers of Christos.

The plot also includes a lovelorn gladiator and the hot pursuit of a couple of villains through the catacombs of the local amphitheater in the middle of gladiatorial games. Downie gets better with every book.

Click HERE and HERE for two reviews of Persona Non Grata.

The Mysterious Death of Miss Jane Austen by Lindsay Ashford

The Mysterious Death of Miss Jane Austen by Lindsay Ashford --- 423 pages

There's nothing that diehard mystery fans loves more than a conspiracy theory, and Ashford has come up with a honey: that the early death of the great English novelist was one of a series of murders motivated by the adulterous affairs of Austen's favorite brother, Henry. Is Ashford's theory plausible? Perhaps. Is it probable? That we may never know. But it certainly makes fascinating reading.

See this article from the Daily Mail for details!

Circle of Shadows by Imogen Robertson

Circle of Shadows: A Novel by Imogen Robertson --- 373 pages

The fourth novel in Robertson's series of historical mysteries featuring Mrs. Harriet Westerman and anatomist Gabriel Crowther, which one critic has likened to "CSI: Georgian England."

Set in 1784, at a masked ball in the duchy of Maulberg in Germany, the Duke's mistress is found murdered in a locked room. The body exhibits no sign that the victim resisted. And crouched in the same room as the corpse, bleeding from slashed wrists and completely incoherent, is Mr. Daniel Clode, Harriet's new brother-in-law. Clode and his bride, Harriet's younger sister Rachel, are in Maulberg on their wedding journey, combining business with pleasure.

Rushing to their support, Harriet enlists the assistance of several friends including Crowther, and travels to Maulberg, where she and Crowther begin by searching for evidence to prove Daniel's innocence. But soon they are drawn into the larger investigation: if not Daniel, then who is responsible for what they begin to suspect is a whole series of cunning murders targeting prominent members of the Duke's inner circle of advisors.

A gripping tale of political intrigue, deceit and vengeance that lives up to the standard Robertson has set in her three previous volumes: Instruments of Darkness, Anatomy of Murder and Island of Bones. Elegant and pithy, these are the kinds of stories you might expect if Jane Austen had turned her hand to murder mysteries. Fans of Stephanie Barron's series featuring Jane as sleuth will enjoy these too. Note: As each tale builds upon the last, it helps to read them in sequence.