The good thing about it is that Rome had no police force in the sense that we understand it, so nobody’s going to be asking “why don’t they fetch the police?” when things get a bit tricky-always a problem when you’re writing about an amateur sleuth. H ow difficult is it to write a series of crime novels set against the backdrop of ancient Rome? What would you say are the main challenges you face as far as research goes? So that’s one of the issues they tackle in the book. I was also worried that once they had a baby, one of them would end up doing all the detecting while the other one had to stay at home and babysit. Then I realised that there’s always going to be at least one other party causing tension in their relationship: there’s Ruso’s commitment to his duty, and for Tilla there’s the tension of not wanting to betray her own people while feeling herself sliding into collusion with the occupiers. Good question! Having been largely brought up on a diet of “and they got married and lived happily ever after” I was afraid that once characters became a couple, they’d be less interesting. How have you managed to keep the couple so engaging with your readers? T he two leading characters are Ruso and Tilla now have a baby daughter. I felt this raised rather more questions than it answered, and since the only record we have of any of these ‘local women’ is the occasional name on a tombstone or a curse, there were plenty of tempting gaps to fill with fiction.Īs for the crime element-I have to admit that when my agent looked at my proposal for a rambling tale of passion and conflict, she handed it back with, “Much too much plot, and put a crime in it.” She was absolutely right: crime fiction gives a writer the chance to explore all sorts of interesting things while providing a structure that means you can’t ramble on indefinitely. Right on the line of this stark barrier between Roman and Barbarian, there’s a caption in the Housesteads museum that reads, “Roman soldiers were not allowed to marry, but they were allowed to have relationships with local women”. To my shame, even though I went to school in Colchester-which was the first Roman town Boudica burned down-I never realised how fascinating the Roman Empire was until we took our children to visit Hadrian’s Wall. I guess the question you must have been asked many times why a series of crime novels set in the Roman Empire? Vita Brevis – A Gaius Ruso Mystery (Out now) Most of the other books have been set in Britain but this time they’re in Rome, where Ruso takes over what he thinks is a reputable medical practice only to find a dead man in a barrel on the doorstep and a message saying, “Be careful who you trust.” Thank you! It’s a story featuring the regular characters of the series, Roman legionary doctor Ruso and his British partner Tilla. She is married with two sons and lives in Devon.Ĭ ongratulations on the release of Vita Brevis just released now out in hardback the 7 th book in the Medicus series, can you tell you tell us a little of what Vita Brevis is about? Ruth Downie is the author of the New York Times bestselling Medicus, as well as Terra Incognitta, Persona Non Grata, Caveat Emptor, Semper Fidelis and Tabula Rasa. MEET THE AUTHOR RUTH DOWNIE ~ VITA BREVISĪs part of the Vita Brevis Official Blog Tour I am delighted to welcome to the latest in a series of Meet the Author interviews Ruth Downie to talk about her latest novel Vita Brevis which is has just been released by Bloomsbury and is available through Waterstones and all good bookshops.
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