Medicus

A Novel of the Roman Empire

By: Ruth Downie

Narrated by: Simon Vance

Gaius Petrius Ruso is a divorced and down-on-his-luck army doctor who has made the rash decision to seek his fortune in an inclement outpost of the Roman Empire, namely Britannia. His arrival in Deva (more commonly known today as Chester, England) does little to improve his mood, and after a 36-hour shift at the army hospital, he succumbs to a moment of weakness and rescues an injured slave girl, Tilla, from the hands of her abusive owner.

Now he has a new problem: a slave who won't talk and can't cook, and drags trouble in her wake. Before he knows it, Ruso is caught in the middle of an investigation into the deaths of prostitutes working out of the local bar.

A few years earlier, after he rescued Emperor Trajan from an earthquake in Antioch, Ruso seemed headed for glory: now he's living among heathens in a vermin-infested bachelor pad and must summon all his forensic knowledge to find a killer who may be after him next.

Who are the true barbarians, the conquered or the conquerors? It's up to Ruso (certainly the most likeable sleuth to come out of the Roman Empire) to discover the truth. With a gift for comic timing and historic detail, Ruth Downie has conjured an ancient world as raucous and real as our own.

©2007 Ruth Downie (P)2007 Tantor Media Inc.

Critic reviews

"Downie's auspicious debut sparkles with beguiling characters and a vividly imagined evocation of a hazy frontier." (Publishers Weekly)
"Fans of Alexander McCall Smith will delight in this series debut set in Roman-occupied Britain and featuring wry army doctor Gaius Petreius Ruso." (Booklist)

Highly recommended

This is a great book, the characters are very likable, it is interesting, humorous and credible.
It is read by Simon Vance, who is, as always, an absolute pleasure to listen.
To give you an idea of what I like, I spent 6 moths reading Patrick O'Brian (the audio books are also read by Simon Vance, by the way) and a year reading Terry Pratchett.

Great Mystery set in Roman Britania

I love mysteries set in the Roman Empire. This one is unique in so far as it is set in Britania instead of Rome itself. Emperor Trajan has just died and Hadrian is the new emperor. The author has really captured the flavor of Roman Britain with all its vices. The hero, as the name implies is a Doctor, so we get to learn about medical practices in the Roman Empire. Our hero has angered just about everyone he possible can and is beaten and threatened throughout. It is both humorous and exciting. But all ends well. The reader is great and really makes the characters come alive. Hope to see more of this character. Great listen - very enjoyable

Well written and entertaining...

I admittedly have a thing for history, and am particularly interested in English and Roman history, so this book is a two-fer in that regard for me; --but it's not heavy on history. This is more a story about people; and people don't really change; so even if you aren't a history nerd, this book is just an entertaining read. It's not a dumb, four-letter-word read, but it's light and well paced, and a pleasingly entertaining "whodunnit".

I like this series

This was a Roman cozy to me - I liked the characters and the story. During the long drive to work, I found this book pleasant and relaxing - later I started to listen to the series during breaks at work - a mild addiction. Listening to Simon Vance is such a pleasure - just the right touch to get away briefly into a good story. It was well worth the credit for me, and I downloaded the rest of the series. I like to feel comfortable and entertained with a story. Good job all the way around.

Great Book with Better Research

Is there anything you would change about this book?

3.5 Stars
In this novel Ms. Downie provides plenty of rich detail to give some insight into life of this imaginary army doctor of with Hadrian’s Roman Legions stationed in Britain. Coupled this tapestry of period detail with a moderately interesting story and you have a pretty good novel. However, there is a lack authenticity to all this circumstantiality that gnaws at the reader’s consciousness enough to detract from the work overall.
Recommended: Yes, with reservations.

Slow at the beginning, but it picks up

I’m glad I stuck with this one. It was so slow at the beginning that I almost gave up.

Love, love, love this!

I was so taken with not only the writing but also the voice actor that I immediately purchased the next in the series and have added all of the balance to my wish list. This is a combination of ancient history, Larry David, and medieval medicine. Sounds like it could not work, but it works brilliantly.

I tried something a little different...

First of all, I love Simon Vance, and normally he can do no wrong, however for this book his voice, which I love and know so well, didn't work for the characters. (I particularly thought Valens was too foppish sounding, and it wasn't what I was picturing as he was described). The main character sounded, well, too british. His voice-personality was seemingly accurate, but...heck. Normally I'm pro male british accent for anything european, in lieu of someone doing a perfect "local" accent that is, but not for this book apparently. I don't know what I was expecting - it's not like the narrator was going to have an ancient roman-latin accent (what does that sound like?), and really any accent was going to be problematic.

Which brings me to the biggest problem I have with the book - SO many anachronisms. Despite the reminders that we were in ancient roman britannia, it never really felt like it. The author's note at the end made me feel a little better about some of the things that felt out of place (or really too modern) for me, but I still couldn't "believe" we were in the ancient roman empire. I've never read anything placed in this era, and I thought it would be great to try something new. I was just too distracted by things that didn't seem fit into that period of history.

Character development was lacking in some regards, it was okay enough for Ruso, but not really for Tilla.

The "mystery" part was okay. I didn't completely see it coming, but I wasn't surprised either. I don't think I thought enough about it to try to figure it out ahead of time.

I got this book on sale, and I'd only get another if it were on sale. Or I could see myself borrowing it from the library instead. Maybe I'd like it better, or be brought into the ancient roman part of the story, if I wasn't hearing the smooth and charming Simon Vance in my ears. Sorry Simon, I still love you.

Didn't come off very authentic

There was just something a bit cliche about the combination of characters and the plot. Not nearly as enthralling as Robert Graves' I, Claudius. The murder mystery with a silly romantic ending was what really made it not my cup of tea.

Enjoyable story, just ignore the setting

This is an enjoyable, low-key story about a divorced army doctor at a hospital posting dealing with long rotations, penny pinching administrators, debt problems, a growing attraction, an inconveniently over-active conscience, and a couple of murders that no one else is at all interested in solving ... and for some inexplicable reason everyone is cosplaying Ancient Rome.

The characters and the story are interesting, but there are so many things that feel wildly out of place in an ancient setting that it got in the way of me being able to enjoy it at first. Then I decided to consider this a fantasy story set in some vaguely Roman-inspired world and was able to enjoy all the good things about this story, of which there are many.

Don't come to this story looking for historical fiction, you'll be disappointed, but come to it looking for a reluctant-sleuth murder mystery with some semi-fantasy setting elements and you'll probably enjoy it. I did, at least.

Simon Vance does a magnificent job narrating as well. Makes for a very pleasant listen.