Hiding From the Past

Pliny joins his best friend, Tacitus, on a hurried trip to Gaul because of family illness. But Pliny and his lover, Aurora, along with their fellow travelers, are stranded by an avalanche in a remote Alpine village―the same one they'd visited ten years earlier as teenagers. That time they'd tried to investigate a case of mysterious death, encouraged by his uncle, Pliny the Elder. Then, as now, they're beset by dangers, both naturally and deliberately caused. Can they escape a second round of attempted murder?

Albert Bell breaks new ground in this latest case from the notebooks of Pliny the Younger. Some of the story is told in alternating flashbacks to a time ten years earlier than the other series books. And the setting is new: Transalpine and Cisalpine Gaul (Roman-occupied France and northern Italy). The flashback sections allow us to meet Uncle Pliny (the Elder) and Monica (his mistress, and Aurora's mother) as living characters.

Some of the perils Pliny's party faces are still with us in the 21st century (fire, avalanche, bandits) as are some of their pastimes (gambling and cheating at same). Enduring through the ages, of course, are both licit and illicit love.

As in the earlier books, a glossary of Roman terms is included.