A Pattern of Blood: A Libertus Mystery of Roman Britain

Libertus the Pavement Maker returns in the second of Rosemary Rowe's novels on Roman Britain set in the second century AD. Libertus is a witness to a stabbing on the streets of Corinium (modern day Cirencester). Luckily for the victim a physician is hand and a tragedy is averted. However Libertus is commanded by his wealthy patron Marcus Septimus to investigate the attack. This is no where near the end of the matter and Libertus soon becomes embroiled in another case of murder and intrigue. These books are well researched and the storytelling is excellent. I commend them to you.

Rosemary Rowe gets most of her historical information from books written for the layperson, this is her claim in the 'Foreword'. So while I could point out the minor differences in historical interpretation I don't think that most people are looking at this book to replace a textbook on the Empire in Britain. Three of the characters are repeat performers: the pavement maker (not quite how I would describe him given what he creates) Liberatus, his slave and apprentice Junio and his patron Marcus (who may be related to the Emperor Commodus). This time the mystery involves the murder of a local administrator and a murder of his slave, a boy whom did far more than merely serve meals to his master. This is an interesting twist because in order to understand the more important murder, the minor one must be solved as well. Rowe overplays the differences in status a bit too much for my taste and she underestimates the power and authority of women by the end of the 2nd century CE. Overall if you liked the first book, this one will please you as well.

Rowe's second Libertus offering - `A Pattern of Blood', has our erstwhile sleuth hotfooting it to Corfinium, with Junio in tow, to the townhouse of the decurion, Quintus Ulfinus to investigate the latter's stabbing after the races, a few days earlier. It just so happened that Libertus was present during the attack having visted Corfinium to investigate the whereabouts of his missing wife, Gwellia.Just after he turns up with his patron, Marcus Septimus, Quintus is murdered as he lies recuperating. The suspects are immediately limited to his playboy son, Maximillius, his wife, Julia, her ex-husband, Flavius, the aging Lupus, and the medicus, Sollers. Mingled in are the household slaves, Rollo being the most prominent, particularly as he ends up in the latrines the next morning as the second murder.What Libertus suffers from here (and notes several times in hindsight as he relates the tale) is that he allows personal emotions to lead to poor character judgement which, in turn, clouds him to the blatant facts that are under his nose. A case of not wanting certain people to end up being the culprit(s). It effectively humanises him and we begin to see the flawed human beneath the brilliant mind.Each of the suspects has good motive and each has good reason to attempt to implicate most of the others as it becomes evident that the murder is part of a power struggle to obtain Quintus' estate.Blood is very important to this murder mystery, notably where it is present and on whom. Once Lupus is incarcerated in the `attic' and Mutuus (having been freed in the reading of Quintus' will just after Libertus discovers the culprit behind the original stabbing and the subsequent blackmailing) has further denounced his adopted father (Lupus) we have a lengthy denouement as Libertus grills Julia (who is not quite as angelic as the Libertus would have us believe and Sollers in Marcus' presence. We then move very quickly to find the ambiguous soothsayer in the town whose predictions ultimately come true, though not in the manner our protagonists first assumed they would. Finally we end up with the uncovering of the culprit(s) and Libertus' lengthy explanations to his patron as to where the clues lay. As with the previous novel the clues are there in the text from the beginning (unlike many other authors who introduce essential facts as we go along) so whilst suspicions are confirmed, the reasoning is a delight to uncover.The continuing growth of the main characters has added more flesh to the bones given in `The Germanicus Mosaic'. Libertus and Junio are an excellent team, though Marcus is protrayed as an impulsive intellectual buffoon as times. It is hard to see what he brings to the show, other than as a well-placed man to get things actioned for Libertus when he cannot himself. The supporting characters are excellently drawn, their interplay a delight to watch as Libertus teases out the true facts of their relationships..Overall it is an improvement on the first off