Prima Facie – Ruth Downie Free Audiobook

Written by Ruth Downie
Read by Simon Vance
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 64 Kbps
Unabridged

Roman Empire Series, Book 8.5
Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc.
Release date: November 19, 2019
Duration: 03:05:20

A novella from the author of the bestseller Medicus, featuring reluctant investigator Ruso and his partner Tilla.

A tale of murder, intrigue, and betrayal in Roman Gaul. It’s AD 123 and the sun is shining on southern Gaul. Ex-military medic Ruso and his British wife Tilla are back after a long absence-but it’s not the reunion anyone had hoped for. Ruso’s brother has left him in charge of a farm he has no idea how to manage, a chronic debt problem and a gaggle of accident-prone small children.

Meanwhile his sister Flora has run away to rescue her boyfriend, who’s accused of murdering a wealthy guest at a party. Can Ruso and Tilla save the boyfriend from the murder charge-or should they be saving Flora from the boyfriend? Will any of the guests tell the truth about the fatal party before it’s too late? And meanwhile, how long can Ruso continue to lie about what’s inside the bath house?

Fans of Ruth Downie’s Roman Empire mystery series will be sorry only that this audiobook is so short. Simon Vance does his usual elegant work creating a world so far from our own yet so psychologically familiar. Downie’s sleuth, Ruso, has returned to Gaul to help out with some family business, only to find that his niece, Flora, has run off and her boyfriend, accused of killing a patrician lout at a party, is missing. Ruso and his British partner, Tilla, a wonderful character seen by the Romans as an auslander barbarian, must sort out who is lying and why. The details of the social order and mise en scene are wonderful, and Vance’s performance is smooth, sensitive to nuance, and delightfully effective. B.G. � AudioFile 2020