Once again the young patrician Aulus Manlius Torquatus faces danger and violence in the turbulent world of Rome between the collapse of the Republic and the creation of the Empire. Rome in 41BC is a place of hunger, riots, and where the threat of civil war is ever-present. The Three Men who rule the state - Marcus Antonius, Octavian and Lepidus - are bitterly divided. Marcus Antonius is currently in the eastern provinces, leaving his brother Lucius in Italy as consul. Octavian is in Italy, charged with demobilising thousands of soldiers who've been promised land of their own, and is struggling to keep control of the violent city. Lepidus' intentions are far from clear.
It is now two years since Torquatus solved the problem of his friend Octavian's missing gold, and once again he finds himself reluctantly investigating a crime. He is the priest charged with conducting the ancient ceremonial procession of the Argei. No one really knows any longer what the ritual means, but everyone understands that to burn down one of the tiny shrines of the Argei is serious sacrilege. Especially on the eve of the procession in which man-shaped figures made of reeds which have been placed in them are carried through the city and offered to the river Tiber. And now not one but three shrines have been destroyed, not by some revolutionary or drunken youth, but by an unknown young woman, her body found in the burned-out shrine. Who is she, and why should a girl commit a horrible act of sacrilege? Torquatus is at a loss as no-one comes forward to identify the criminal.
Is this sacrilegious crime an attempt to destabilise Octavian, hated for his appropriation of land for the soldiers? Should Torquatus be looking for some political opportunist behind the girl? Then a young man from the provinces comes to Rome in search of his sister Fiscilia. At last the criminal is identified, and Fiscilius stays to help Torquatus find out what his sister had been involved in.
Meanwhile Torquatus' marriage is also running into problems. His father-in-law, Balbus, becomes unexpectedly resentful at Torquatus' attempts to find out what really happened in the shrine. His wife Cornelia herself is concealing something, Torquatus is sure. Only his sister Manlia is unchanged in her support for him, and she sets out through a seething Italy to find Fiscilia's aunt and bring her to Rome, in the hope that she may be able to explain Fiscilia's extraordinary behaviour.
Everything comes to a head when civil war erupts between Octavian and Marcus Antonius' brother Lucius. Lucius and his army are driven into the city of Perusia and besieged there. Torquatus tries to forget his personal troubles as he generals troops for his friend. But his problems won't go away. He hears some extraordinary news from Cornelia, which seems to suggest that his marriage is over. He has to deal with this at the same time as leading troops against Lucius and his army when they attempt to break out of Perusia, and fighting against Antonius' army when they march from Gaul to confront Octavian.
It's only when the political and military situations resolve themselves that Torquatus can devote himself to repairing the damage to his relationship with Cornelia, who has some astonishing news for him. At last he understands what lay behind the crime. Or so he thinks. But as he prepares to celebrate the festival of the Argei again he discovers that the dangers he's faced are not all in the past.
It is now two years since Torquatus solved the problem of his friend Octavian's missing gold, and once again he finds himself reluctantly investigating a crime. He is the priest charged with conducting the ancient ceremonial procession of the Argei. No one really knows any longer what the ritual means, but everyone understands that to burn down one of the tiny shrines of the Argei is serious sacrilege. Especially on the eve of the procession in which man-shaped figures made of reeds which have been placed in them are carried through the city and offered to the river Tiber. And now not one but three shrines have been destroyed, not by some revolutionary or drunken youth, but by an unknown young woman, her body found in the burned-out shrine. Who is she, and why should a girl commit a horrible act of sacrilege? Torquatus is at a loss as no-one comes forward to identify the criminal.
Is this sacrilegious crime an attempt to destabilise Octavian, hated for his appropriation of land for the soldiers? Should Torquatus be looking for some political opportunist behind the girl? Then a young man from the provinces comes to Rome in search of his sister Fiscilia. At last the criminal is identified, and Fiscilius stays to help Torquatus find out what his sister had been involved in.
Meanwhile Torquatus' marriage is also running into problems. His father-in-law, Balbus, becomes unexpectedly resentful at Torquatus' attempts to find out what really happened in the shrine. His wife Cornelia herself is concealing something, Torquatus is sure. Only his sister Manlia is unchanged in her support for him, and she sets out through a seething Italy to find Fiscilia's aunt and bring her to Rome, in the hope that she may be able to explain Fiscilia's extraordinary behaviour.
Everything comes to a head when civil war erupts between Octavian and Marcus Antonius' brother Lucius. Lucius and his army are driven into the city of Perusia and besieged there. Torquatus tries to forget his personal troubles as he generals troops for his friend. But his problems won't go away. He hears some extraordinary news from Cornelia, which seems to suggest that his marriage is over. He has to deal with this at the same time as leading troops against Lucius and his army when they attempt to break out of Perusia, and fighting against Antonius' army when they march from Gaul to confront Octavian.
It's only when the political and military situations resolve themselves that Torquatus can devote himself to repairing the damage to his relationship with Cornelia, who has some astonishing news for him. At last he understands what lay behind the crime. Or so he thinks. But as he prepares to celebrate the festival of the Argei again he discovers that the dangers he's faced are not all in the past.
