Price of Freedom, The: A mystery set in Roman Britain (A Libertus Mystery of Roman Britain Book 17)

This 17th Libertus Mystery of Roman Britain opens with Libertus preparing for a private feast at his Patron’s, Marcus Aurelius Septimus, villa. His patron is nominating Libertus to be a Glevum Councilor. During the feast, Marcus receives word that the local tax collector was found dead from hanging in his villa. There was a suicide note stating that he had lost all of the tax collection funds gambling and couldn’t face the shame. Unfortunately, if the tax money is lost, the Glevum Councilors will be legally required to make up any deficit themselves. Marcus tasks Libertus to investigate. Marcus gives Libertus a warrant to allow him to use the military inns and even the use of Marcus’s personal gig for part of the trip. At the last minute, Marcus asks Libertus to attend a wedding as his personal representative as Marcus cannot personally attend. The storyline takes off from here and becomes more complex. My attention was captured quickly and sent many hours after midnight reading this novel only to wake up in the morning and continue reading.

What I like about this series has continued in this novel. That is the B-storyline. The relationship between Marcus, the patron, and Libertus, a client, is most accurately portrayed than in other ancient Roman gumshoe series and novels I have read. Also, the life of domestic slaves, to me, was very realistic. Since most of the action of this story, Libertus spends time away from the normal cast of characters from previous novels, Libertus’ interactions with them is limited, and furtherance of the B-storylines over the series does not occur much in this novel. While this is one of the significant reasons why I like this series, missing this aspect did not affect my enjoyment in reading this novel. This also means that if this novel is the first of the series that you are considering reading, it is a good novel with which to start. Hopefully this will result in you binge reading the other novels in this series.

Many aspects of Roman law come into play in this novel, as well the series. While some statements are made during the novel, the author weaves the explanation of the implications to the storyline by using Libertus’ thoughts or discussions with others. This is achieved seamlessly and helps the reader’s understanding what is happening while keeping the ancient Roman feel to the storyline.

Readers do not have to worry about the use of questionable language or sex in this novel. There is none. As for violence, well, there are murders and physical abuse, but most of it is described after the fact, which for me is not as disturbing and describing violence as it occurs. No reader should worry about being offended in these aspects. Now, one technique used by the author is to use of the Latin word for many objects, concepts, or actions. Many of these words are in the accompanying Kindle dictionary, but I frequently had use the Kindle browser to find the meaning on the internet. For me, the authenticity brought by the use of these words more than outweighs the inconvenience.

Overall, The Price of Freedom was a quick and enjoyable read for me. It kept my interest throughout the entire novel. I did not encounter any negatives while reading it. Based upon these reasons supported by my above comment, I give this a five star rating. I believe it will be an enjoyable read for the series veteran or the novice to this series.

I have received a free kindle version of this novel through NetGalley from Severn House Publishers with a request for an honest, unbiased review. I wish to thank Severn House Publishers for the opportunity to read this novel early.

Thank you to NetGalley and Severn House Publishers for a digital galley of this novel.

I've read all the Rosemary Rowe novels featuring Libertus Flavius Severus and enjoyed them all. This one will go on my list as being one of the best. Rowe includes a Foreword to give the reader an idea of what would have been happening during this time period, the final weeks of AD 193, in the Roman Britannia in which the story is set. That information solidifies the action which will be taking place during the fictional story and explains the Roman political scene as well as traditional life in Britannia at this time. I find that information very helpful in making the activities which happen in the story easier to understand.

Libertus is quite uneasy when he accepts an invitation to dine at the home of his patron, Marcus Aurelius Septimus, the local magistrate who also happens to be one of the wealthiest and most politically powerful men in Britannia. Naturally there is a catch just as Libertus thought; he's being nominated to a position on the town council of Glevum (modern Gloucester) . Libertus names all the reasons he shouldn't be nominated but Marcus has made his mind up. A messenger arrives during the dinner to bring Marcus the news of the death of the tax collector in a small town outside Glevum. Libertus is dispatched immediately to go investigate and try to recover the tax money. If that money isn't found, the members of Glevum's council will be forced to contribute the money from their personal wealth. Rome will have it's tax monies......no excuses will be accepted.

I always like these stories when Libertus travels away from home during his investigations for Marcus, but this one I especially enjoyed because it put the focus on the military roads and system of accommodation along those roads. Naturally every person in Roman Britannia was not an honest, upright citizen but these novels give a view of what the system of power and wealth might have been like. From the lowest slaves who had absolutely no personal freedom and were valued only for their ability to do a specific job all the way to trusted, honorable slaves who conducted the day to day business of a society, I find this world fascinating. Here power meant total power as long as all your stars were properly aligned. Properly aligned stars depended on a combination of the political power of who you knew and how wealthy you were or what service you could provide. Libertus has an uncanny ability to reason through a situation and solve crimes. His wife is grateful for that skill, but what she really is grateful for is his ability to make quality tiles which results in him getting large contracts. Libertus has a lot of people depending on him so it's a good thing he's so good at what he does.

Libertus loses his identity and has a difficult time getting IT back. Usually he has more humor attached to his escapades.

Story was good, writing was good, ending 'had' to end the way it did, but it was just too brief in how it did it. And more could have happened at the end also. But, good book overall.

Rowe's work is always interesting. This one has an excellent plot twist.

The books in these series are a delight. you learn a lot of history with a great detective story as well. Was sorry to finish it and can't wait for the next.

The Price of Freedom featuring Libertus, a freedman mosaicist, is book XXXX in the popular series Libertus Mystery in Roman Britain. The author has done a wonderful job keeping her series fresh and fun, with lots of local color and Roman history for amateur historians, along with red-herrings, a complex mystery, and suspects galore for mystery fans.

Libertus narrates the story in first person, as if it were a chronicle of his adventure written soon after its conclusion. He has a dry wit, and is a personable narrator, a Celtic familyman-business owner who gets roped into problem-solving for his former master. The life of slaves in Roman Britain is portrayed in all its horrible variety, and features especially strongly in this book.

While it is fun to read all the books in the series in order, to visit periodically with “old friends”, the author does well at bringing new readers up to speed with Libertus's life to date, quickly and painlessly. The dialogue heavy style keeps the story active and moving forward quickly. However, the history woven into the tale can slow it down a bit. But those bits are beloved by die-hard fans of fiction set in ancient Rome's empire.

I found it entertaining to travel alongside Libertus through Roman Britain, encountering realistic characters and believable adventures. The author uses the story to point out the parallels between the past and today, since the one constant over time is human nature, in all its violence, fanaticism, patriarchies, and barbarism. Those darker elements have, rightfully, always been a part of Libertus's tales, since the Roman Empire was a very violent, brutal place with lots of institutionalized sadism.

There are many characters in the novel, which usually isn't a problem for me, and is how a novel should be, but for whatever reason this time I had difficulty keeping people clear. The ending was rather quick; I would have like a little for strands of the story tied up with Libertus's hindsight. But I'm not really complaining since this was a very entertaining read! I look forward to spending time with Libertus again in his next book, perhaps with more of his family in that one. I received a review-copy of the book; this is my honest review.