Summary
Russo is trying to be a curmudgeonly miser ... and failing rather spectacularly. As much as he tries to mine his own affairs and turn a blind eye to what doesn't concern him, he can't prevent himself from trying to help. And look where it's gotten him. Unable to pay his debts and trying to care for an injured slave on top of his already crippling tower of responsibilities. Unfortunately, he hasnt learned his lesson. When prostituted slave girls from one particular bar keep turning up dead and no one seems to be investing the matter serious, Russo finds himself asking questions even though he knows he shouldn't.

What I Thought
This was a surprisingly wholesome story for a book featuring a brothel. Russo is a gentleman, even to slaves, and scenes with situations that are less innocent are kept to a PG-13 level of descriptiveness.

I came across this book because I wanted a story set in Eboracum (now York, England) and this book came up because it contains numerous references to the Eboracum Road. The historical component is more set dressing than anything else, a fact the author addresses in the end note. It's not meant to be overly historically accurate or educational. It's just a fun setting for the story she wanted to tell.

The story she wanted to tell brings me back to the brothel setting and plot relevance of prostituted slaves. The author used the end note to draw attention to the topic of modern slavery and girls unwillingly trapped into lives of prostitution. Since this is something I care about, I appreciate the heart behind it, and it lends extra depth to Russo's integrity throughout the story.

Beyond these points, the story had the vibe of a cozy mystery. The mystery element was not too intense and was accompanied by a subplot interpersonal relationships. Overall it was an interesting but slightly meandering read.

Content
Sexual: Multiple characters are prostituted slaves. Several scenes show them seductively working a crowd or trying distract Russi from his questions by seducing him. One girl is groped, though this is very minimally explained. Characters talk very casually about bedding slaves. Overall, taking sexual advantage of enslaved persons is consistently present throughout the book but handled in a non-gratitouous manner.

Violence: Murdered bodies are discovered, deaths occurr in the course of Russo's work as a medicus, characters are injured, etc. This is all minimally described and very non-graohic.

Swearing: Occasional uses of bl**dy. D*mn and h*ll may also be present but I don't specifically remember.

Religion: Russo is a religious sceptic but occasionally prayer to a Roman deity, just in case. Tilla is very devoted to "The Goddess" and Russo at one point prays to Tilla's goddess, just in case. At one point Russo muses that no one comes back from the dead, regardless of the rumors about a Judean carpenter.