Fortune’s Fool
In this sixth entry in Bell’s mystery series featuring Gaius Pliny the Younger, the story moves the major players out of ancient Rome and into the beautiful countryside around Lake Comum (Como), and most of the novel’s action happens there. As Pliny’s party, including his slave and lover, Aurora, and their friends Tacitus and Julia, draw closer to his childhood home, Pliny is forced to admit to the unhappy Aurora that his wife Livia has him over a barrel.
The jealous and unpleasant Livia has given him an ultimatum: either find Aurora a husband, or get rid of her before Livia arrives at Lake Comum. Pliny’s choice for Aurora’s spouse is Felix, an older family servant who has actually managed to hide the fact that he is castrated. Shortly after Aurora’s marriage, Livia and her mother arrive, and tensions begin to flare. Giving in to Livia’s demand for more space in the villa, Pliny begins modifications which lead to the discovery of a decades-old skeleton in one of the villa’s walls.
Pliny, intrigued by the mystery, begins questioning the locals and stumbles upon an unsolved murder case. Gruesome warnings, a kidnapping, a tragic tavern fire, and murder attempts lead to the discovery of an abandoned villa in the woods that harbors other, darker secrets long hidden and undisturbed until now. Drawn into a web of lies, blackmail, and deceit, Pliny realizes he must question his own family’s connection and expose who is willing to commit murder to keep the case closed.
Bell does a fine job of juggling his various characters and storylines and pays great attention to period details. The relationship between Pliny and Tacitus, with their bantering humor and teamwork in solving the cases, continues to entertain.
