Betray the Night, by Benita Kane Jaro

Betray the Night is for people who enjoy the Corvinus series, by David Wishart, those interested in the story of Ovid's carmen et error, and those who want to explore the role of women at the tail end of the rule of the first Roman emperor.

Latin students face a variety of insurmountable puzzles about the literature they study, but perhaps none so intriguing as what it was that led to Ovid's exile (actually, relegation) to Tomis. The explanation given is that it was for a carmen et error (song/poem and mistake).

Speculation abounds as to which of and what in Ovid's many poems may have incensed the increasingly prudish first emperor (Augustus). Was it Ovid's sensuality, his mischievous advice, his parodying the serious and flattering Aeneid, or something else?

Benita Kane Jaro hints that it might have been a poem about a satyr who challenged Apollo. The satyr's name was Marsyas and the punishment he suffered for losing the music contest with the god was flaying alive. Augustus, who identified with Apollo, may have taken a poem sympathetic to the satyr somewhat amiss. Or maybe there was more. Perhaps a lascivious celebration at the satyr's statue. Perhaps one involving the emperor's grand-daughter, who also suffered the wrath of Augustus.

This is some of the background to a mystery story that Jaro unravels from the perspective of Ovid's wife, left back in Rome to try to intercede for her husband. It's a very good story and isn't too bad in the way of overlaying 21st century sensibilities on women who lived two millennia earlier. However....

Benita Kane Jaro's The Lock occasionally confused me. The problem is greater in Betray the Night. It starts with inadequate formatting, where changes in speaker in prolonged dialogue, not noted by identifying "she saids", may be jumbled together in the same paragraph. Motives are often unclear or implausible, conversation ambiguous, and the introduction of far too many characters not included in the glossary make it hard to follow.

There are too many problems with the way this great story was packaged to recommend it more broadly.