Tilla has her own sense of fairness, and views on what makes the world tick.ĭownie locates each book in a different town, mostly around Roman Britain (#3 is set in Roman Gaul, and #7 in Rome itself). Downie is masterfully weaving the investigations through sub-plots, distractions, daily lives, grand events – till you just have to know what happens next. Ruso may be a reluctant investigator, but he has that nagging voice in his head when things don’t quite fit well, and it keeps him following and digging for the truth. The plot of the stories grips you till can’t put the book down. It is clear that each character – from main to support cast – is a fully realised person, with their own agendas and biases. Downie has a knack to depict the world-views of the characters realistically, switching viewpoints from a Roman medical officer to a British peasant woman. These are the kind of books where you care for the characters. The writing is witty, the setting is rich, the plot thought-out, and the mysteries engaging. All characters are fully fleshed, believable, with their own motivations. Things naturally become much more complicated than anyone expects, and Ruso is both aided and frustrated by his native housekeeper (and future wife) Tilla. The series takes place (mostly) in the height of Roman occupation of Britain, which serves as a great background to view the empire at it’s Western extreme.Įach novel is a mystery, where Ruso is reluctantly ( he’s a doctor, dammit, not an investigator!) dragged to solve murders no one else wants to take a close look at.

Ruso is a physician, serving as a medic in Rome’s Legio XX stationed in Britannia at the start of Hadrian’s reign. (I wrote individual reviews for each book on Amazon & Goodreads). Since I do not include spoilers in my reviews and the below applies equally to all volumes I’ve read, I’ve made this post a review of the whole series. That should give you an idea about how much I love the series.

I actually wrote this post after finishing the 3rd volume, Persona Non Grata, back in November – but since I schedule posts in advance and have been catching up on my reading over the holidays, I had the chance to finish the other volumes in the series between writing this and posting. Below are my thoughts on the whole series, as I’ve just finished the last published volume, Vita Brevis. I’ve read the first two books a couple of years ago, and have been reading the rest of the series this year. I strikes me that while I have mentioned Ruth Downie‘s writing before, have interviewed her protagonist Gaius Petreius Ruso, and have even used him for a guest appearance – with permission! – in In Numina, I have never actually wrote a full review of her books.

Vita Brevis by Ruth Downie