This amusing and light-hearted novel tells the story of Diomedes, who arrives in Imperial Rome from his native Greece to collect his inheritance when his uncle dies. However he discovers that this inheritance consists of little more than a run-down hovel and a slave, Baiasca. So his plans to simply sell up and make his way home again come to nothing, and he is forced to take up his uncle’s business to make enough money to return to Greece. And his uncle’s business? Well, he’s an exquiriente – what we might call a private investigator. Only the Romans didn’t have such an occupation, so author has cleverly invented a word for it. With much help from Baiasca, who is definitely worth more than her monetary value, Diomedes embarks on his new career and soon has plenty of clients. Including Julius Caesar himself, who needs him to investigate a recent assassination attempt. A somewhat delicate matter seeing that he was with Cleopatra at the time.
I really quite enjoyed this humorous little tale, which was originally published in 1989 and fully deserves to be resurrected. The author has certainly done his research on the time and place, and the period details seem authentic and convincing. The story is well-paced, and if a little far-fetched at times, the intrigue nevertheless works well and the juxtaposition of real-life figures with the invented ones convinces. My knowledge of Spanish is adequate rather than good, so I enjoyed the straight-forward narrative style and vocabulary. Not a serious read, but a very enjoyable one, which manages to make Imperial Rome seem almost as familiar and everyday as our own times.