Gripping further adventures of Canio in the Cotswolds area of southern Britain. Now the owner of a magnificent villa near two streams, he lives with the mysterious Trifosa, his mistress. Lunaris, an agens in Rebus [a member of the intelligence community and a type of spy or secret police] pays him a visit. Lunararis's duties are pretty much anything to protect the State, including assassination. He wishes Canio to become friends with a neighbor, Antoninus, and to report back to him. Antoninus's brother had been involved in a political conspiracy and rebellion years ago and the agens feels Antoninus may have been involved too. He wants proof of the man's complicity. He blackmails Canio by saying if he gets it and passes it on, Lunaris will not reveal that the villa was bought with ill-gotten gold. This is personal revenge, not a State matter. Canio decides to play along with him, although he feels it's not quite right; Antoninus had been away with the army during that time. After Lunaris leaves, Canio gets a fleeting glimpse of someone--who? Trifosa? Something supernatural? The visit and a dinner party at Antoninus's villa set the adventure in motion.

The author showed us his strong characterizations and his gorgeous descriptions of the countryside that I feel are strong points of his writing. Canio is developing as a character; from being completely self-centered in [The Moon on the Hills] he is showing more of a conscience; he is putting himself in danger to help Antoninus prove his innocence, although Antoninus had possibly been Trifosa's lover and definitely her childhood companion. Going by her present too-transparent feelings, he may now have a rival for her affections. I also liked that Vilbia, the priestess, was integral to this story. The author wove very creatively into his story the Spoonley Wood Roman villa and the statuette of Bacchus that was discovered a century or more ago. The book cover shows Spoonley Wood.

Very highly recommended. ( )