Tabula Rasa--Ruso and Tilla Search for His Clerk and a Missing Child

Tabula Rasa: A Crime Novel of the Roman Empire by Ruth Downie
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Ruso and his British wife, Tilla are back at the construction site of Hadrian's wall where Ruso's commanding officer has been trapped in the collapse of the quarry wall. Ruso finds himself removing the man's leg in order to extricate him from the muddy, unstable wall. Once this dangerous feat is complete, Ruso finds himself back at the hospital, short-handed since his clerk has been absent without notice for several days and his pharmacist is away on a fishing vacation. His old clerk, Albanus, is on his way to visit his nephew, Candidius and Ruso is quite anxious since the nephew is his new clerk, whom he has taken on as a favor.

With the anxiety of the missing clerk Ruso also has the stress of an evening meal scheduled at the home of Tilla's native relatives. The elder of the group has agreed to perform a wedding blessing ceremony for the two of them and is hoping to see the violence between the Romans and the Britons alleviated by the rite. All goes well at the evening meal and the night spent in the native's home. However, the disappearance of a local boy, the rumor that a body has been secretly hidden in the wall construction and an over-zealous search of one home and the burning of another by the Roman legion soon causes the unrest between the two groups to resume. Also, since the Roman action appears to have been ordered by Ruso the planned wedding blessing is canceled.

As Ruso and his superiors make the effort to locate the missing clerk, find the missing child, who appears to have been kidnapped by a Roman soldier and suppress the rumor of a body in the wall, Tilla takes investigation into her own hands. Working at cross purposes, it would seem, and with many false leads, the tension between Natives and Conquerors intensifies and before it erupts into violence a nine year old boy must be found safe and fast.



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