Vita Brevis

Medicus Ruso and his wife Tilla are now in Rome with their adopted daughter.  However, Ruso is unable to find any work despite having been promised that there would be work for him.

Ruso is surprised when a note comes from a doctor who is out of the city attending to his father, offering him his business while he is away.  However, the note also contains a warning:  “Be careful who you trust.”

They are shocked when they discover the body of a man inside a barrel just outside their new lodging, which had once been the lodging of the doctor who seems to have disappeared.  Ruso begins to investigate where he might have disappeared to.

Then one of Ruso’s patients suddenly dies. Could he have been poisoned?  Could Ruso’s medicine have killed him?  Ruso’s patron, Accius, teams Ruso up with his old nemesis, Metellus, to look into the matter.

As usual, author Ruth Downie has Ruso and Tilla get into a variety of adventures, some of which undoubtedly are dangerous to one or the other.  However, their work does lead to a number of solutions and a happy ending for Accius.  Downie has written another very good historical mystery.