SPQR XII: Oracle of the Dead by John Maddox Roberts

Decius Caecillis Metellus has been made Praetor Peregrinus, responsible for dealing with court cases involving foreigners in Italy. He and his wife, Julia, are travelling in Campania when they visit a temple sacred to both Apollo and Hecate. While his wife finds it all remarkable and mystical, while Decius is rather more skeptical.

During their visit, they are made to drink a baneful liquid, then conducted to the Oracle of Hecate. But as they enter the chamber after making a mile-long journey through a rock tunnel cut deep into the earth, they find the High Priest of Apollo floating dead in the water inside the Oracle's chamber, in the bubbling pool that boils without heat.

But how did he get there? The only tunnel leading to the chamber is the one they came through, and he neither accompanied them nor went ahead of them. The precincts of Hecate are off-limits to the priests of Apollo as well, so it's unlikely he would have come down there anyhow. So how did he get into the chamber? The only way could have been through the river that feeds the boiling pool, but there is no known river near the temple that he could have fallen into that would have led there. So how?

The death offends Decius, so he decides to tarry in Campania and at the temple, and discover who killed the priest. And it soon turns into multiple murders: for the rest of the Apollite priests are also missing. Decius thinks that they may have killed the high priest and fled, but even if they hadn't, he wants to question them. But they are soon found dead in yet another tunnel, this one part of the temple of Apollo. It also connects to the water, but the priests are dead of asphyxiation, and seem like they may have fought off attackers- since their hands and forearms are battered, bruised and bloody.

So was their death and the death of their High Priest an act of murder against the faith of Apollo, or did something else lead to their deaths? As Decius probes the strangely conjoined temples, and the high-ranking citizens of Campania, he is threatened and nearly killed by those wanting him to keep his nose out of the business of the temple. Unfortunately, because he's only Praetor Peregrinus, he only has authority over crimes involving foreigners, and the priests of Apollo were all Romans. Will he be able to bring a successful conclusion to his case without overstepping the bounds of his office and being exiled by the Senate? And could this case have anything to do with the coming clash between Julius Caesar and Pompey?

This was a rather thin book, but the story was large in comparison to the amount of space it took up. Decius has morphed from the early 20-something, ambitious younger son of the Metellus family into something of an elder statesman. He's now in his 40's and more than fond of drinking and eating well, something that's had deleterious effects on his waistline and endurance. He's also caught between Julius Caesar, whose daughter, Julia, he is married to, and Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, called Pompey, who is the traditional patron to his family.

But Decius knows that Julius Caesar, who has been fighting with his troops, will win. Pompey's army has been disbanded for over a year, and Pompey has grown soft and corpulent. This is important, because Caesar is even now moving towards the Rubicon, and as Campania is the seat of Pompey's power, he wants the murderer of the priests of Apollo to be found, but he's not so much of a stickler for finding the true murderer, just finding someone convenient to blame so that the region will be pacified.

But Decius is more interested in finding the true culprit, and his determination to do just that may not make him very popular with Pompey or his wife, but it makes his character seem like the only honest or true one in the midst of the general corruption that is the Roman Patrician class. Even his wife seems more interested in hectoring him to make her proud and support her father in a more military way. But she's also resigned to his more moral stance, even if she doesn't quite support it.

And that's why I enjoy reading this series. Not just for the excellent historical mysteries that John Maddox Roberts is all too capable of writing, but for Decius himself, who often seems like the last honest, decent man in Rome, Italy, or wherever he happens to be residing. Seeing him fight to uncover the deeds of evildoers and bring them to justice, instead of just who is convenient and available. I enjoy this series, and while I may forget how good it is when a long time has come and gone between books, reading the new one always makes me remember again.