Caveat Emptor (Gaius Petreius Ruso, #4) by Ruth Downie

Caveat Emptor (Gaius Petreius Ruso, #4) Reviews

• 
  S.J.A. Turney

  I suspect Ruso was my favourite investigator of crimes by the time I’d finished the first book in Ruth Downie’s Medicus series. The second book expanded this world to include darker themes and the wild north. And by the time Ruso went home to Gaul in the third book he was not only my favourite investigator, but one of my favourite characters in any book series. Left with something of an uncertain future at the end of that book, I wasn’t sure what to expect from the fourth book, other than being sure it would be highly entertaining.
  
  Caveat Emptor takes us back to Britain, where Ruso and Tilla (now man and wife) find themselves dragged into problems galore. Tilla becomes a friend and helper to a native woman who has got herself into disastrous trouble, her man the tax collector having disappeared with the money. Ruso finds himself appointed by the province’s assistant procurator to investigate the disappearance of the tax collector and his money.
  
  What follows is a complex and thoroughly engrossing investigation taking us from the docksides of Londinium (London) to the finance offices of Verulamium (St Albans). A plot that involves a fascinating and shady cast of characters from lurking town guards to power-hungry councillors to weaselly clerks to half-blind noblemen and so on. A plot that, I might add, while I grasped parts of the solution half way through, parts kept me guessing to the end. A plot that is not all it seems at any given point.
  
  But once more, the major wins of the book are the main characters and Ruth’s writing. Having met Ruth now, and discovered what a truly nice lady she is, it amazes me how she seems to be able to get into the mindset of hen-pecked males or vicious mysogenists or the like so well that they read as truly authentic. Ruso is at times hapless, at times heroic, mostly beleaguered and often confused. He is a man who tries to do the right thing, even though at times he’d like nothing more than to do the wrong one. Tilla is no barbarian, nor is she a Roman matron. She is not a charicature but a person, with all the complexity that implies. And as always with Ruth’s writing, the threads of gentle quirky humour that run throughout add counterpoint to the seriousness of the situations in which they find themselves and make the books something special and a delight to read.
  
  As a last treat, here’s just a taster of the sort of writing that makes me love Ruth’s work:
  
  As the ostler had promised, the ginger mare was keen to go – but not necessarily forward. After winning the argument over which of them was steering, Ruso urged it out under the archway and onto the wide expanse of the North road.
  
  If that kind of writing doesn’t make you want to read, then I reckon nothing will.
  
  Caveat Emptor. A beautifully constructed mystery. And now I go on to read the next book – Semper Fidelis.
• 
  Terence

  The fourth book in Ruth Downie’s mystery series about Gaius Petreius Ruso, erstwhile medicus of the XX Legion, finds him and his new bride Tilla (aka Darlughdacha) back in Britain. Wanting to get as far away from his family as possible, Ruso has returned to Londinium looking for a job. His friend Valens, another former legionary doctor, helpfully “volunteers” him for an assignment with the Procurator’s office. An assignment that has nothing to do with medicine: Julius Asper, Verulamium’s tax collector, and his brother have disappeared, as have the taxes, and the Procurator wants to know where the money went. Without an immediate means of support, Ruso reluctantly takes up the case.
  
  In addition to Valens, we again meet up with Albanus, Ruso’s clerk when they both were stationed in Deva, who is now getting by as a tutor. He leaps at the chance to help his old officer. Less happily, Ruso also crosses paths with Metellus, the provincial governor’s spymaster. He’s got Tilla’s name on a list of possible insurgents and blackmails Ruso to supply him information regarding the investigation.
  
  This volume felt more “intense” than the first three. The mystery’s a bit more complex than the earlier ones, and the antagonists more ruthless, and there was less humor that I noticed (that may have been an artifact of listening to it on CD rather than reading it, however). There was also Ruso and Tilla’s developing relationship. Neither is an ideal spouse (one of the things I like about Ruso is that I see a lot of me in him).
  
  Overall, this was a fine addition to the series, and I’ll keep my eye out for the sure-to-come sequels.
  
  Audiobook quality: Simon Vance, who reads the book, is OK but a lot of his voices didn’t synch with my conceptions of the characters, most gratingly with Valens. He is of an age with Ruso but Vance makes him sound like an asthmatic old man. His “Metellus” had an annoying nasal twang, and his female voices were “adequate” at best.
• 
  Monica Hills

  I would have rated this novel higher but I felt like the ending was very unfulfilling. I know there are more books to read in the series but I still like a novel to have a strong ending. In this one Ruso is an investigator and is trying to solve the murder of a tax man. It delves more into his and Tilla's relationship. It was good and I enjoyed reading it but not my favorite in the series.
• 
  Eden

  2019 book 408. Ruth Downie continues to delight me with her storylines, plot devices, and knowledge of Roman Britain. She is an excellent storyteller and it shines in this tale of missing tax collectors, adultery, the administration of Britain by the Romans, and the issues that befall men and women as they relate to the institution of marriage. I never know what I'll learn - and learn I do in Ruth Downie's books.
• 
  Assaph Mehr

  Returning to the familiar and homey (albeit soggy) ground of Britain, Ruso's next adventure is not on the frontiers but rather closer to the centre of administration of the emerging province.
  
  What to Expect
  
  Charming and complex characters, well-researched details about Roman life in Roman Britain under Hadrian, murders and other nefarious deeds, a plot and sub-plots that twist and build up - all for a great read overall.
  
  We get a look at the bureaucratic machinations of governance - how the Roman province was run in terms of organisation, money, relations with local chieftains, and the common life. As Ruso is out of the legions in this volume, we don't get a view into the legions.
  
  What I liked
  
  This goes for the whole series.
  
  The absolute charm of the writing. All characters are fully fleshed, believable, with their own motivations. The writing is witty, the setting is rich, the plot thought-out, and the mysteries engaging.
  
  These are the kind of books where you care for the characters. 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. It is clear that each character - from main to support cast - is a fully realised person, with their own agendas and biases.
  
  The plot of the stories grips you till can't put the book down. 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. Tilla has her own sense of fairness, and views on what makes the world tick.
  
  Downie locates each book in a different town, mostly around Roman Britain
  (with only two exceptions). She has clearly done her research for each location and they all come alive, with the latest modern archaeological understanding of life there seeping through her writing.
  
  What to be aware of
  
  These aren't the noir mysteries I normally read and recommend. While there are certainly some gruesome bits (did I mention gladiatorial combats?), these aren't your typical first-person hard-boiled detective. Rather, the stories are told in a lighter vein, in third person perspective from either Ruso or Tilla's POV. Happily, Tilla gets more page-time as the series progresses.
  
  Ms Downie has experience with archaeology and Latin history, and it shows in her writing. She has elected to translate most Latin terms into modern English (e.g. calling a master 'my lord' rather then 'domine', or using 'doctor' for physician), which may sound a tad weird to those used to Latin terms from similar series.
  
  Be aware that while it's not strictly necessary to read the books in order, it certainly helps.
  
  Summary
  
  I absolutely love this series. I have no idea why it took me so long to get back to it, but I am glad I did. If you've read the previous books, this is a great continuation. If not, go back to book one (Medicus) and start reading today!
  
  --
  
  Assaph Mehr, author of
  Murder In Absentia: A story of Togas, Daggers, and Magic - for lovers of Ancient Rome, Murder Mysteries, and Urban Fantasy.
• 
  Jean

  This book is set in second century A.D. In this book of the series Ruso and Tila have returned to Britannia from their visit to Ruso’s family in Gael. Gaius Petreius Ruso, medic is now retired from the Roman Army and starting off his married life with Tila. He obtains an assignment as an investigator by the procurator’s finances office. Ruso is hired to trace the nearby city of Verulamium’s tax collector, who has disappeared with the city’s tax money. The book is more complex than prior books in the series but is balanced with some humor, murder, babies, missing money, and a great deal of information about the making of money in the second century Rome and in Britannia. I found that most interesting part of the book. Simon Vance does a great job narrating the book. If you enjoy historical fiction about the Roman age this book would interest you.
• 
  Beth

  Good story & narration.
• 
  Pamela

  Ruso has returned to Britain with Tilla, now his wife, and is staying with his friend and fellow doctor Valens while looking for work. Rather than medical work, he has been offered a role as investigator for the Procurator and is asked to find a tax collector, Julius Asper, who has disappeared with the money. He heads to Verulamium to begin his search, but before long Asper is found murdered and Ruso begins to uncover a dangerous conspiracy.
  
  This is an intelligent and intriguing mystery with likeable rounded characters. The relationship between Ruso and Tilla is well developed without overshadowing the mystery, and the historical background complements the story. The tensions between different British tribes is interesting and the memory of Boudicca and the Iceni revolt still influences these relationships, even though we are now in the reign of Hadrian and Rome has tightened its grip.
  
  I enjoy the warmth and humour of this series, its human relationships and clever plots, and this was one of my favourites.
• 
  Shannon

  I don't know what is different about this book compared to the one before it in the series, but I just never could get into it. It took a long, long time to get going and even by about halfway, I was still bored. Nothing ever seemed to happen. And I never thought reading a book set in this time and place that I'd have to do with that proselytizing feeling you get from Christian literature. Whenever Tilla narrated, it was Christos this and Christos that. "Christos says love thy neighbor so I guess I should help these people...." It was just too much religion, and not even the cool Roman gods or the interesting Celtic gods of pre-Roman Britain, but the boring God of Christianity we've all heard about so many times before. A real wasted opportunity.
• 
  Carolyn

  I struggled so much getting through the first half of it. Poor Ruso had no idea what was going on plot-wise and neither did I. However, I persevered, and Downie managed to pull it together in the end. Entrenched powers are just the worst to convict. I think Ruso and Tilla’s relationship is growing, though.
  
  Downie set this book in Verulamium. It’s one of those situations where I can see how she was inspired by the setting but she didn’t manage to pass the inspiration on to me.
• 
  Ruth Chatlien

  This series has reached that lofty plane where I miss Ruso and Tilla between books.
• 
  Kathy Davie

  Fourth in the Gaius Petreius Ruso Roman mystery series---the series keeps changing with more of a government and politics air than military in this installment.
  
  Caveat Emptor begins oddly. I feel as though I've missed a story as, previously in Persona Non Grata, we're left believing Ruso and Tilla are off to Rome to track down stolen money instead, it's two years later and Ruso and Tilla are married, Ruso is unemployed, and, for some reason, they're sailing back to Britain (mostly for Tilla's sake I think as both are fed up with people's prejudiced reactions to Tilla the Barbarian). It does make for some fascinating asides from Tilla as she comments on the differences between living in Britain and Gaul.
  
  Well, the two of them end up in Londinium crashing with Valens who is no longer martially employed but is having marital problems. Ruso's investigative side is called upon with some blackmail from Metellus and Ruso is off to Verulamium (today's St. Albans) to investigate the death of a tax collector and the missing taxes. This particular story includes an interesting bit of how coins are devalued and there is a personal look at a Roman funeral.
  
  I'm hoping that one day Ruso and Tilla will get their act together and realize they would do so much better if they cooperated. They are on the way---at least, Tilla has flashes of "oops" and I think Ruso is starting to see her as a partner...I think...
  
  There are several aspects of this series which I am enjoying: the stubborn, intelligent, going-off-half-cocked barbarian woman with a heart with her amazingly (for the times), tolerant, well-meaning, intelligent yet naive, Roman doctor as they stagger through a well-written depiction of life in Roman times trying to do good and save lives.
• 
  HBalikov

  Gaius Petreius Ruso is a soldier, medic and investigator in Roman Britain. This story takes place in the time when Hadrian was Emperor. This is several decades after the Iceni tribe's revolt which was barely put down by the Roman legions. Rome has given self-government to certain cities that have shown their willingness to adopt Roman culture and pay their taxes to the Empire.
  
  In this fourth novel in the series, Ruso has remarried and, having taken some time with his family in Gaul, has returned to restart his career in Britain. His second wife, and former housekeeper, comes from one of Britain's "barbarian" tribes, the Corionotatae. Her name is Darlughdacha, but she is known as Tilla.
  
  Almost as soon as they arrive back in London, and before Ruso can find work as a doctor, he is pressed into service by the procurator (tax collector) to help determine where the taxes from Verulamium have gone. They were allegedly being brought to London, but the man who was to do so, has gone missing.
  
  There is a very complex plot that plays out over the first 300 pages. There is a large cast of characters, some from previous books, that are woven into the story. (My copy had a list of those characters tucked in the last pages where it did me no good.) The final 60 pages are filled with action that rushes on to a surprising conclusion.
  
  Downie provides a rich mixture of cultures and politics in this novel and for those interested in how life was lived in Roman Britain, this would enhance the experience. For those simply interested in a good historical mystery, the pace may be a bit slow to delight.
• 
  Rachel Thompson

  To me this one was really a letdown in the series, which is sad because I spent more on this one than I really wanted to, and it was the shortest installment.
  
  Ruso and Tilla have returned to Britannia where Valens has promised to find Ruso a job. When Ruso arrives, however, he learns the job is as an investigator rather than a doctor. By this time it should be no surprise that a mystery is afoot and bodies are piling up. And even though Tilla and Ruso are married, their relationship is still not solidified enough to feel as though it will stand the test of time.
  
  There were so many twists and turns in this mystery that I had trouble keeping up, and the leaps of logic that Ruso was able to make often lost me. I'm still not completely sure how he arrived at his final conclusion, especially since he seemed to distrust one of his suspects just based on the man's hair and handsome face.
  
  Overall, the writing was good and kept me reading despite the confusing plotline. And these are characters I've grown to love so I wanted to find out what happened to them of course. There's still enough strife there to suggest a potential book 5, which I will most likely buy. Any fan of this series should continue reading, but don't expect big things from this book.
• 
  Old Firehouse Books

  Wow! I really enjoyed this book. It's apparently the fourth in the Medicus series, but this is the first one I've read. I will now go back and read the first three. The book's main character is a Roman doctor, recently discharged from the army. He has married a Scottish woman named Tilla, and the book takes place in the environs of London in the year AD 120. I loved how you could just dig into the historical details in the book- I felt like a time traveler. Tilla and Ruso, her husband, both have distinct personalities, goals, and points of view- well done by the author.
  The plot has to do with counterfeit coins, but also has much to do with the era's British culture and politics, and the difficulties of working while detached from one's source of authority and protection. There is a wry, very British sense of humor throughout the book, as well as empathetic characters. I will recommend this series to our mystery book club without reservation.
• 
  Rebecca Huston

  In this, the fourth book in the Gaius Petreius Ruso novels, Ruso and his bride Tilla have returned to Britannia to start their lives as a married couple. However, it's not going to be as easy as it seems, as Ruso finds himself dragged into an investigation to find a missing tax-collector and more importantly, the money he was transporting. Along with that, there's rival native tribes, a very pregnant Iceni woman, native councils ready to betray each other for a denarii, and all sorts of mayhem. As with Ruth Downie's novels, the historical research is top notch, the humour borders on slapstick, and there's plenty of tragedy to balance out things. I do recommend that the previous three novels be read before taking on this one. This was published as Ruso and the River of Darkness in the UK. Four stars overall, recommended.
  
  For the longer review, please go here:
  
  http://www.epinions.com/review/Ruth_D...
• 
  Geordie

  The fourth book of the series - Ruso, a former medicus for the Roman army, and his British wife Tilla return to Britain looking for work and opportunities. When he's unable to find a job doctoring, he takes a temporary job investigating the murder of a tax-collector.
  
  This turned into a long story, often depressing, with not a lot of closure. As always, the two main characters were a real pleasure, but story wise, maybe the weakest of the series. Worth reading if you've been following along since the first, but definitely a bad place to pick up the series.
• 
  Colleen

  I'm thankful that Ruso and Tilla have returned to Britiannia and was glad to see a few familiar characters return. The mystery was a bit more tense and the bad guys were more cutthroat than in previous books. This is possibly to do with the underlying motivation (greed) being more cold-hearted and the fact that there are infants and baby-making conversations going around. The mix feels dangerous and ominous.
• 
  Phair

  It was good but did not feel as interesting as previous books in the series and I'm not sure why. Maybe there was too much about the politics or maybe the whole storyline was just a downer or just maybe I'm so sick of the snow and ice that nothing can penetrate the winter blahs. Was not happy with the way the Ruso/Tilla relationship is going. I liked it better when Ruso was with the legion.
• 
  Lois

  A tangled political intrigue in Roman Britain. A bit too much of Russo bumbling around, and way too little of the sweet and awkward love affair with his barbarian wife, Tilla. Still, I will read the next in the series hoping for a correction in this.
• 
  Karen Klein

  Ah, sadly I have now finished the last book in this series that has been written so far ..... I am hoping that there are further adventures of Ruso and Tilla in the near future.
• 
  Tony

  The first two books in this series took place in Roman Britain (circa 117 AD), and much as I liked the setting, they dragged a bit for me and the stories were never quite as engaging as I wished them to be. The third book was much more successful, as Gaius Petreius Ruso and his slave/love interest Tilla visited his ancestral lands in Nimes (Southern France) and there was a lot more energy to the proceedings.
  
  Here, the couple has returned to Britain, where Ruso hopes to sign back on as an army doctor. However, he somewhat implausibly gets dragooned into investigating the disappearance and murder of a tax collector in Verulamium (roughly 30 miles north of London). This then gets him into the deep waters of the tangled relationship of the Iceni and Catuvellanni tribes to each other and Roman rule. Add in a pregnant woman descended from Boudica, the missing tax money, some counterfeit coins, and a sinister figure from one of earlier books, and it all gets rather jumbled.
  
  The well-established dynamics of Ruso as the reluctant and frazzled investigator, and Tilla as the headstrong agent of chaos still don't really work that well for me. And in this instance, I just wasn't particularly engaged in the murder mystery, the stakes just weren't that compelling. It's never good when within ten minutes of finishing a book, you can barely recall who the villain was, and have no idea how the hero figured it all out. I'm giving this series one more book, and if it's not much better, I'm done with it.
• 
  JJ

  I guess I'm done with this series. I like the ancient Roman setting, and the mysteries are fine, but these characters are so boring I don't even know what to say about it. Like four books in and I have no indication that Ruso and Tilla ever speak to each other. Like what about each could they possibly like? How are they are always both solving a mystery without ever talking or sharing information between them? Why are they married now when, like I guess he wants to sleep with her, but otherwise what do they even see in each other? It's just an incredible gaping hole being repeatedly told "oh they're married" "oh they want kids" when they literally never speak to each other or even think of each fondly. And both characters are so flat, and so lacking in depth that I can't even infer what they might like about each other, because four books in I feel like I still barely know anything at all about either character's thoughts and feelings.
• 
  D.L. Morrese

  Between book #3 and book #4, Tilla and Russo get married, Russo leaves the Roman Legion, and they go back to Britannia. Ruso wants to work as a doctor, but his friend Valens gets him a job as an investigator. A local woman, a descendant of the infamous Boudica, has just given birth, and the father, a tax collector for Rome, is missing (along with his brother) and suspected of running off with the tax money he was supposed to deliver to Londinium. With no other immediate job prospects, Russo agrees to investigate. The situation becomes far more complex and dangerous than he expected.
  
  These are great historical whodunits. I especially enjoy how the Romans are continually perplexed by the superstitious barbarians but more so by how the men are bewildered by the women. Things haven't changed much in that regard over the last 2,000 years.