The story opens with the death of Serena, the wife of Ruso's former associate Doctor Valens, in the steamy waters at Aquae Sulis (now known as the City of Bath). Serena had been having an affair but the prime suspect is Valens himself according to her powerful father Pertinus. Valens goes into hiding but sends his friend Albinus to fetch Ruso to help him nail Terentius, the man Serena was having the affair with. Terentius is an engineer at the baths and is in charge of the bath plug. Ruso arrives at Aquae Sulis with his wife Tilla, baby Mara and the 2 slaves they purchased in Rome in the prior novel Vita Brevis and begins his investigation.
I am glad that the series is back in Brittania. The sleuthing works best here. However, I am still unclear why the author is trying to get one of the main characters, Tilla, to change from being an independent woman to a submissive Roman wife. We readers came to love the Tilla character as she was in the first novel, brash and bossy. It's a bad idea to change the personality of a main character. Ruso has changed too but for him it has been more of a growing experience. Tilla just seems stunted from the earlier novels in the series.
The whodunnit aspect of the story was OK. These two did not make sleuthing mistakes in the earlier novels but they have made them in the past two installments of the series. It doesn't sit well with me. I can't remember reading any other mystery novel where the amateur sleuth made a wrong decision on where to take their investigation. It isn't how mysteries are written.
I had a difficult time staying interested in the book. With a stunted Tilla and the team not really working together as they used to, it was somewhat boring. Memento Mori is the second book in a row from this series to disappoint me so I doubt if I will keep reading it.
No comments:
Post a Comment