En una época en la que la influencia del cristianismo en Roma es cada vez mayor, el poder de Constantino se verá amenazado cuando aparecen asesinadas tres prostitutas de La Casa de Afrodita, un famoso burdel frecuentado por el propio emperador. Helena, madre de Constantino, tratará de proteger el futuro de su hijo contratando los servicios de Claudia, la sobrina de un tabernero que se hará pasar por sirvienta para descubrir al verdadero asesino. Pero ella también tiene un secreto que esconder...

My first exposure to Paul Doherty. This novel was a disappointment: boring story, wooden characters; I also didn't like using modern names for places although story set in Constantinian times and the many modern terms, e.g., boyfriend. The character of Empress Helena was especially unpleasant. And I didn't like her terming Claudia, the heroine as "little mouse." A female spy is a bit unusual; I've only run into it so far in Peter Lukasch' Roman mystery novels set in Carnuntum, which aren't yet published in English. In these German-language novels, the female character is part of a duo. Unusual for me, I guessed the identity of the murderer here not far into the novel: a person called the Sicarius, or Knifeman. I thought it pretty obvious. I regret buying the book. Well, here's another one for the public library book sales.
I nearly abandoned the book but slogged through the whole thing, skimming most of the way. I'm not enticed to read more of Doherty's works set in any era and the man IS prolific. ( )

There is something unusual in this book: the spy and main character is a girl. I don't know if there were female spies in Ancient Rome, but there is a good explanation in the novel. Sometimes a girl has easier access to the information she has to find, for example if the person who has that information is a female servant and servants are usually overlooked. They're there but most people don't really pay attention to them. These things make it possible for Claudia to find out secrets unnoticed.

It is interesting to see how the more you read, the more you doubt everybody. All the people in the novel are hiding things and you never really know who they're really helping (or if they're helping anybody at all). Also, everybody has their own interests, so they may be helping somebody at one point and trying to make things difficult for them at another. This makes it difficult for Claudia to find the killer, but it also makes it difficult for us as readers to know who the bad guys are.

Claudia is also hiding something: her past. She is working as a spy for Constantine's mother to be able to find the man that killed her brother. All she knows is that the man had some sort of tattoo in his wrist but she soon learns that this just means that the man belongs to a certain group.

In the end you don't know how bad all the characters are, because while the most immediate problem is solved, half secrets have been revealed that are probably part of further novels (I haven't read the next books in the series, so I can't be sure, but it is strongly hinted). ( )

Roma está gobernada por el Emperador Constantino y su madre Helena.

El Emperador intentará sacar provecho de la cada vez más influyente Iglesia Cristiana. Pero su poder se tambalea cuando tres prostitutas de La casa de Afrodita, prostíbulo que él frecuenta, aparecen asesinadas. Los tres cadáveres presentan cruces grabadas en la frente y en cada mejilla.

Con el propósito de proteger el futuro de su hijo, Helena contrata los servicios de una espía, Claudia. Claudia es la sobrina del dueño de una taberna y comienza a trabajar como sirvienta en la casa del Emperador. Claudia intentará descubrir quién es el asesino, y al mismo tiempo encontrar al hombre que le cambió la vida a ella y a su hermano.

This book is part of Doherty's fourth-century-Rome series, which features a female spy as a protagonist. Claudia is the daughter of a centurion, but she and her brother have been raised by her tavern-keeper uncle. The book opens with a traumatic event: Claudia's deaf-mute brother, Felix, being killed and herself being raped by a man with a chalice tattooed on his wrist. This sudden and chilling opening then segues into the main storyline: courtesans frequented by Emperor Constantine are being found dead with crosses etched into their cheeks, a mockery of the Christian faith that Constantine is considering supporting. The deaths, while not directly linked to Constantine in the sense of making him a suspect, are embarrassing enough to him and his mother, Helena, that Claudia is assigned to the case. Claudia is a member of the Agentes in Rebus ("the doers of things", per Doherty's introduction) and as such is a master spy -- a "little mouse" who scurries around catching tidbits of information and formulating plans.

The story is an okay one. The writing isn't terrifically memorable; actually, in some parts it is downright pedestrian. Claudia doesn't have any zing when she talks, and for the entire book I could not picture her in even the vaguest way. The deaf priest, Anastasius, was clearer in my mind than she was, and he didn't speak. Guess he left a bigger impression on me.

Now while I am down on the writing quality, I did enjoy the story. It was well done and kept me hanging on waiting to see what came next. The introduction, which sets the stage for fourth-century Rome at the time of the story, was another nice touch for those of us who are not entirely up on our Roman history, although my Latin experience made me smile at things like "In hoc signe vinces" and "Agentes in rebus". (I even recognized a quote that introduced one of the chapters -- "Anger is a brief madness", from Horace. It was in our textbook.)

Another interesting aspect was the fact that Anastasius was deaf. I suppose there have been deaf people throughout the ages, but they probably don't appear very often in historical fiction, and if they do they probably don't have as prominent and as useful a role as our friend the priest. Such a unique character definitely added to this book's appeal, and even Claudia was a smart and resourceful protagonist. (She just didn't have a forceful personality in her speech; it was more in her actions that she shone.)

So all in all, I'd say that I wouldn't buy this series, but I'm not about to turn up my nose at it if I see it in the library. ( )