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Claudia Seferius #8
Dark Horse
"The demon stirred. Its sleep had been long, but in its sleep it grew restless. It had smelled the blood of its past in its dreams. Now it wanted to taste it.
When Claudia is caught doping racehorses, an island in the Adriatic seems the perfect refuge. Shaded by figs and pomegranates, Leo’s villa is surrounded by plunging cliffs, sandy coves and hillsides scented by carpets of wild herbs.
Then a pirate ship anchors in the bay, and almost immediately a fire breaks out, an apprentice is murdered, and sinister messages are delivered on the point of a spear.
Too late, Claudia discovers that three hundred miles isn’t far enough from Rome to escape the law.
Or a bloodlust that goes way beyond evil."
When Claudia is caught doping racehorses, an island in the Adriatic seems the perfect refuge. Shaded by figs and pomegranates, Leo’s villa is surrounded by plunging cliffs, sandy coves and hillsides scented by carpets of wild herbs.
Then a pirate ship anchors in the bay, and almost immediately a fire breaks out, an apprentice is murdered, and sinister messages are delivered on the point of a spear.
Too late, Claudia discovers that three hundred miles isn’t far enough from Rome to escape the law.
Or a bloodlust that goes way beyond evil."
399 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 1, 2002
29 people want to read
About the author
Marilyn Todd
87 books45 followersMARILYN TODD lives with her husband on a French hilltop, surrounded by vineyards, châteaux and vines. As well as sixteen critically acclaimed historical thrillers, she's a prolific writer of short stories, most of which are crime, but range from commercial women's fiction to comic fantasy and all points in between. When she isn't killing people, Marilyn enjoys cooking. Which is pretty much the same thing.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 29, 2018
This exciting Roman murder mystery is the 8th part of the lively and cheeky "Claudia Seferius" series.
The story is once again told with a lot of wit and enjoyment, and the storyline is really very well organised and structured by this fine author.
Storytelling is of a very good quality, and the characters concerning and featuring within this fascinating tale come all superbly to life, with Claudia and Marcus Orbilio as the main attractions.
The main part of this story itself is situated on an island, 300 miles from Rome and its called Cressia, and its there where Claudia is residing with Leo, who's Marcus Orbilio's cousin, and trying to escape her misdemeanours after almost being caught doping racehorses.
But when a pirate warship anchors in the bay, a fire breaks out at the granary, and a apprentice is murdered in this same granary during this fire, chained to a post and burning to death.
When sinister messages are delivered on a point of a spear Claudia's idyllic retreat is in danger of becoming a threatening place of murder, especially so after her host Leo is found murdered to a doorpost with a spear in his gut.
What is to follow is a thrilling murder mystery in which Claudia has to use all her wits and stubbornness to try to escape the threats and clutches of the culprit of all these deathly murder actions.
Really recommended, for this is a fascinating series and that's why I like to call this book: "Claudia's Thrilling Dark Murder Tale"!
The story is once again told with a lot of wit and enjoyment, and the storyline is really very well organised and structured by this fine author.
Storytelling is of a very good quality, and the characters concerning and featuring within this fascinating tale come all superbly to life, with Claudia and Marcus Orbilio as the main attractions.
The main part of this story itself is situated on an island, 300 miles from Rome and its called Cressia, and its there where Claudia is residing with Leo, who's Marcus Orbilio's cousin, and trying to escape her misdemeanours after almost being caught doping racehorses.
But when a pirate warship anchors in the bay, a fire breaks out at the granary, and a apprentice is murdered in this same granary during this fire, chained to a post and burning to death.
When sinister messages are delivered on a point of a spear Claudia's idyllic retreat is in danger of becoming a threatening place of murder, especially so after her host Leo is found murdered to a doorpost with a spear in his gut.
What is to follow is a thrilling murder mystery in which Claudia has to use all her wits and stubbornness to try to escape the threats and clutches of the culprit of all these deathly murder actions.
Really recommended, for this is a fascinating series and that's why I like to call this book: "Claudia's Thrilling Dark Murder Tale"!
March 26, 2016
Claudia is a moderately well-to-do widow, but to keep up her standard of living, she has to engage in some shady activities from time to time. When the heat is on in Rome because of her doping a horse in a race, she accepts the invitation of a friend to visit "his" island off the coast of Illyria. Once there, she's not so sure she wouldn't be better off back in Rome, after pirates show up and her host is killed. To make matters worse, her nemesis (and forbidden fruit love interest) Orbilio, shows up to investigate. This is an interesting series, with a female "investigator" in ancient Rome. Unfortunately, I'm not able to get books from early in the series at my library system because they were published in England (I'm guessing).
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews