Entertaining protagonist, well-researched and interesting setting, not too dark or grim (it's a mystery, there's murder), happy ending. Good for a light, entertaining vacation-type book.

Historical fiction set in the time of Roman-occupied Britain. It was a little slow in the beginning, but Russo is a good character. A little mystery, some medical stuff . . . I'd be interested to check out the next in the series.

Reasonably well written for a "fun read" mystery, but the historical aspect was totally disappointing. It reads like a contemporary mystery in which a few of the nouns are replaced with their ancient Roman counterparts. Absolutely zero sense of immersion in an ancient culture. (Compare to Name of the Rose, which is also an easy fun read, but does give a strong sense of actually taking place in the historical period.) Bailed out after about 75 pages.

I had high hopes for this historical mystery, but unfortunately it fell flat for me. It was very slow to start. I understand that this is the first in a series, so a great deal of world building needed to be done, but I never connected to any of the characters. Between that and the, no doubt historically accurate, casual misogyny, I found myself very irritated with the narrative and just wishing it was over. It's over now and I doubt that I will continue with the series.

2.5 stars

There was hardly any actual sleuthing going on but instead too much attention paid to the slave-soon-to-be-love-interest whom I just didn't care about. I also didn't really get a good sense for the setting (Britannia under Roman occupation) which was a disappointment.

A decent read. I liked the main character, although I did get a bit tired of his long resistance to actively engaging with the mystery. I'm interested enough to check out the next book, anyway.

This was perfectly good historical fiction, and fairly enjoyable. However, for a mystery, it wasn't very mysterious. The mystery of who killed the prostitutes felt like a minor subplot

that only became important to the story when Tilla ran away and everyone was worried she had been/could be killed in a similar fashion

. In fact, the mystery didn't even really start to have momentum (or interesting clues/leads) until over halfway into the book.

That being said, I still enjoyed the characters and the setting and the overall storyline. I'll probably give the next one a try sometime, though I'm not in a rush.

Ruso has just bought a slave. He didn’t mean to, of course, but her master was treating her so roughly and she looked half-dead. Her arm is shattered and he doubts that she will live much longer, but still he bought her. Meanwhile, a woman’s body has been found and ,whether he likes it or not, Ruso must solve the mystery of her murder.

It is difficult to call Medicus a detective novel because Ruso really doesn’t do any investigating. Mostly, he just fumbles around in the dark, hopelessly inept in every area other than medicine, until the culprit is so unnerved by Ruso’s questions that he reveals himself. Those clues that Ruso does take credit for tend to be uncovered by his slave, Tilla, or openly confided to him. This bumbling detective style makes Medicus a delightfully whimsical and ironically funny story. It’s a novel only a Brit could have written.

I’m really not sure what attracts me so much to Medicus, but something certainly does. I couldn’t put it down and I ordered the next book in the series within minutes of finishing the last page. I loved that while the setting was so exotic, the issues dealt with in the novel are completely relevant today.