All Roads Lead To Murder - A Case From the Notebooks of Pliny the Younger, by Albert A. Bell, Jr.
A new testament scholar, Bell highlights first century Roman aristocratic attitudes towards alien religions, like Christianity (suspected of cannibalism), witchcraft, and Judaism. Bell also uses Pliny to worry over the problems inherent in the unquestioned institution of slavery.
What makes Pliny such a good character to use as the sleuth of a murder mystery is that because we still have the letters he wrote, we have some idea of what he was like and what he disliked -- the pervasive races, gladiator games, and loud dinner parties. A slightly priggish character, Bell's Pliny doesn't mind circumventing cherished Roman tradition when it suits his purposes, which it does when he sees a chance to rescue a lovely young slave woman.
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