By: Fiona Forsyth
Publisher: Sharpe Books
Publication Date: November 30, 2024
ISBN: 979-8871605691
Reviewed by: Trix Lee-Rainwater
Review Date: March 9, 2024
What happens when a celebrated poet's own words become a blueprint for murder? Find out in Poetic Justice by Fiona Forsyth.
The year is 8 AD, and Ovid, the renowned Roman poet, has been banished from Rome to the remote town of Tomis by Emperor Augustus. Ovid struggles to adjust to his new life on the fringes of the empire, longing for the luxuries of the capital. He wallows in self-pity, drowning his sorrows in the local taverns and regaling anyone with tales of how he saw something secret that made the Emperor exile him. Little does he know, his new home is far from peaceful – for before his arrival, the remote town was shaken by a pair of bizarre animal killings: a burnt cat and a horse with its throat slit.
Ovid's former colleague Avitius, now a security advisor for the Governor, was tasked to apprehend the perpetrator. He then enlists Ovid’s help to solve the mystery. These animal killings soon pale in comparison to the grisly crimes that follow. When a young barmaid is found strangled with an odd chain with a silver crescent moon charm, it becomes clear that something more nefarious is at work in Tomis. As the duo delve deeper, a chilling pattern emerges: the killer is using the poet's stolen drafts of his unfinished Calendar of Festival poems as a blueprint for the ritualistic crimes. Ovid realizes with dawning horror that the animal killings marked the Altar of Peace and Festival of Equirria - preluding the strangulation that coincided with the Festival of Luna. With the next celebration looming, the investigators must race against time to identify the culprit before more innocent lives are sacrificed.
Poetic Justice is a riveting murder mystery that transports readers to the heart of the ancient Roman empire. Forsyth crafts her characters with nuanced depth, with Ovid himself an arrogant yet endearing protagonist whose fatal flaws and self-importance make his slow albeit redemptive character development shine. The novel deftly explores the fascinating what-ifs of Ovid's exile from Rome while serving as a study of the poet being forced to reckon with his own unfinished masterwork, the Fasti.
Forsyth's vivid prose immerses us in the realities and pagan traditions of the era, richly depicting macabre festivals like that of the Festival of Cybele. While the central mystery initially seems convoluted by a slew of names and potential suspects, it soon becomes clear that this sprawling cast is a deliberate move by Forsyth. As the fusion of poetry and grisly crime unfolds, readers will be captivated by the plot and immersive historical details, even as some loose threads regarding the killer's motivations are left untied by the end. This seems to be an intentional setup for further entries in what promises to be an engrossing saga exploring Ovid's banished life on the fringes of the empire. With its robust character work and compelling mystery steeped in legitimate poetry, Poetic Justice cements Forsyth as a master storyteller of historical fiction.
Quill says: This gripping mystery where a poet's own words take on a sinister life is a true literary feast.
For more information on Poetic Justice (The Publius Ovidius Mysteries, Book 1), please visit the author's website at: fionaforsythauthor.co.uk
American Salvation: How Immigrants Made America Great
Cold War: A Novel of the Berlin Airlift
Tea and Toil at the Woman's Club
Poetic Justice (The Publius Ovidius Mysteries, Book 1)
A Brief History of France: Empires, Kings, and Revolutions
Louis Mie and the Trial of Hautefaye
Daughters of Green Mountain Gap
Danish Connection: The Dansgaard Family Saga
Babylon Laid Waste: A Journey in the Twilight of the Idols
The Strongest Heart (The Clan Donald Saga, Book 3)
Cold Peace: A Novel of the Berlin Airlift, Part I
Hair Goes History: How Hair Enhancement Has Shaped the Arc and Trembling Hand of History
Letters from Jenny: A Historical Novel
A Winter's Coat: U.S. Marine Corps Warhorse
One More Seat at the Round Table: A Novel of Broadway's Camelot
A History of Silence (Book One of the Heartland Trilogy)
Distress & Determination: The Trials of Frederick Darcy, Young Gentleman
Cherokee Steel (Cherokee Passages, Book 3)
The Lighthouse (The Cyrenian, Book 1)
Love and Kisses, Charlie: WWII Letters From a Jewish-American Serviceman
Bound by Honor (The Clan Donald Saga, Book 2)
Seeing Glory: A Novel of Family Strife, Faith, and the American Civil War
Transgression: Hitler, Mirka, Mireille and Me
The Light Among Us: The Story of Elizabeth Carne, Cornwall
Season of My Enemy (Heroines of WWII)
Moral Fibre: A Bomber Pilot's Story
Pioneer Passage (Journey of Cornelia Rose, Book 3)
Mrs. Witherspoon Goes to War (Heroines of WWII, Book 4)
Knights of the Air, Book 1: Rage!
Grounded Eagles: Three Tales of the RAF in WWII
Blood Before Dawn (The Dung Beetles of Liberia, Book 2)
Stolen: Civil War Series, Volume 1
The Reluctant Queen: The Story of Esther
The Zodiac Revisited, Volume 1: The Facts of the Case
The Abalone Ukulele: A Tale of Far Eastern Intrigue
Brandy: Ballad of a Pirate Princess
A Most Clever Girl: A Novel of an American Spy
Traitors for the Sake of Humanity: A Novel of the German Resistance to Hitler
Equus Rising: How the Horse Shaped U.S. History
The Queen's Dog (Empire at Twilight Book 3)
Vestal Virgin: Chosen for Rome
The Greatest Hoax on Earth: Catching Truth, While We Can
Where Eagles Never Flew: A Battle of Britain Novel
Walk Away West (Journey of Cornelia Rose Book 2)
Babylon Laid Waste: A Journey in the Twilight of the Idols
Balian d'Ibelin: Knight of Jerusalem (Jerusalem Trilogy)
The House at the End of the Moor
A Shadowed Fate (A Lord Byron Mystery)
My Name Is Saul: A Novel of the Ancient World
The Gray Chamber (True Colors)
My Dear Hamilton: A Novel of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton
Self-Styled: Chasing Dr. Robert Vernon Spears
Chicago Rink Rats: The Roller Capital in Its Heyday
Miep and the Most Famous Diary: The Woman Who Rescued Anne Frank's Diary
The Dung Beetles of Liberia: A Novel Based on True Events
The Emperor Strikes Back: Frederick II's War against his Vassals
Flirtation on the Hudson (Journey of Cornelia Rose)
Days to the Gallows: A Novel of the Hartford Witch Panic
I, Claudia: A Novel of the Ancient World
The White City: True Colors - Historical Stories of American Crime
Rebels Against Tyranny: Civil War in the Crusader States
Operation Archangel: The Scouts of St. Michael
The Cumberland Bride: Daughters of the Mayflower, Book 5
The Patriot Bride: Daughters of the Mayflower, Book 4
The Pirate Bride: Daughters of the Mayflower, Book 2
The Mayflower Bride: Daughters of the Mayflower, Book 1
Kublai Khan: Khan of Mongol, Emperor of China
Destiny by Design: Leah's Story
Building the Great Society: Inside Lyndon Johnson's White House
Maid of Baikal: A Novel of the Russian Civil War
The Last Crusader Kingdom: Dawn of a Dynasty in Twelfth-Century Cyprus
Return to Babylon: The Orfeo Saga, Book Five
Leningrad 1941 - 42: Morality in a City Under Seige
The Most Beautiful Woman in Florence: A Story of Botticelli
The Wanderer's Last Journey: The Orfeo Saga, Book Four
Zurga's Fire: The Orfeo Saga, Book Three
A Lady’s Code of Misconduct (Rules for the Reckless)
To Shine With Honor - Book One: Coming of Age
The Brontë Sisters Boxed Set: Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Villette
Envoy of Jerusalem: A Biographical Novel of Balian d'Ibelin
Shot Down: The true story of pilot Howard Snyder and the crew of the B-17 Susan Ruth
The Midnight Watch: A Novel of the Titanic and the Californian
Calico Spy: Undercover Ladies series
Médicis Daughter: A Novel of Marguerite de Valois
American St. Nick: A True Story
The Wild West of Louis L'Amour: An Illustrated Companion to the Frontier Fiction of an American Icon
Defender of Jerusalem: A Biographical Novel of Balian D'Ibelin
The Last Summer at Chelsea Beach
Café Europa: An Edna Ferber Mystery
Undercover Bride: Undercover Ladies series
War Bonds: Love Stories from the Greatest Generation
Death of a Diva: From Berlin to Broadway
Wall, Watchtower, and Pencil Stub: Writing During World War II
Sprouting Wings: Book One in the Alan Ericsson Series
What the Lady Wants: A Novel of Marshall Field and the Gilded Age
Grand Central: Original Stories of Postwar Love and Reunion
The Romanov Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra
The Wild Dark Flowers: A Novel of Rutherford Park
Enduring Courage: Ace Pilot Eddie Rickenbacker and the Dawn of the Age of Speed
Time-Life World War II In 500 Photographs
Simple Faith: The Peacemakers Series, Book Two
Sinners and the Sea: The Untold Story of Noah's Wife
America’s Greatest Blunder: The Fateful Decision to Enter World War One
The Winter Warrior: A Novel of Medieval England
Downtown Strut: An Edna Ferber Mystery
The Serpent and the Pearl: A Novel of the Borgias
Indivisible? The Story of the Second American Civil War
Shades of Death: The Gauntlet Runner Book II
Holy Smoke: A Jerusalem Mystery
Through Irish Eyes: A Visual Companion to Angela McCourt's Ireland
Dogs of War: The Stories of FDR's Fala, Patton's Willie, and Ike's Telek
The FitzOsbornes at War: The Montmaray Journals, Book Three
The Story of the Costume Drama
The Forsyte Saga Collection - DVD
Molly, by Golly!: The Legend of Molly Williams, America's First Female Firefighter
The Lost Artist: Five Star Mystery Series
Emanuel and the Hanukkah Rescue
The Color of War: How One Battle Broke Japan and Another Changed America
Dr. Joseph Warren: The Boston Tea Party, Bunker Hill, and the Birth of American Liberty
The United States Constitution: A Round Table Comic Graphic Adaptation
Ghost Train to Freedom: An Adventure on the Underground Railroad
Axis Sally: The American Voice of Nazi Germany
Contested Will: Who Wrote Shakespeare?
Lives like Loaded Guns: Emily Dickinson and Her Family’s Feuds
A Slave in the White House: Paul Jennings and the Madisons
A Train in Winter: An Extraordinary Story of Women, Friendship, and Resistance in Occupied France
Napoleon’s Privates: 2,500 years of History Unzipped
Red-Robed Priestess: a novel (Fourth volume of the Maeve Chronicles)
Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman
The Women of the Cousins' War: The Duchess, the Queen, and the King's Mother
Ripley's Believe It Or Not! Strikingly True
Voices of the Bulge: Untold Stories from Veterans of the Battle of the Bulge
Innocent War (Behind An Immigrant’s Past Series, Book I)
Gone: A Heartbreaking Story of the Civil War
Bombs Away! The World War II Bombing Campaigns over Europe
In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin
Time of the Quickening: Prophecies for the Coming Utopian Age
From Jazz Babies to Generation Next: The History of the American Teenager
How to Read World History in Art
Tasting the Universe: People Who See Colors in Words and Rainbows in Symphonies
Alice Ray and the Salem Witch Trials
George’s Candy: Rescue, Death, and Love in Vietnam
Valley Forge: George Washington and the Crucible of Victory
Haunted Ozark Battlefields: Civil War Ghost Stories and Brief Battle Histories
Voodoo Histories: The Role of the Conspiracy Theory in Shaping Modern History
Norah: The Making of an Irish-American Woman in 19th Century New York
The Alodia Scrapbook: Vol. 1: Creating a New Paradigm, 2001-03
v2036: A Tale of Sociopolitical Change in a Militarized Venezuela
Did Castles Have Bathrooms?: And Other Questions About the Middle Ages
The Library: An Illustrated History
Spartacus: Blood and Sand, The Complete First Season
Frozen in Time: Murder at the Bottom of the World
The Secret History of the Pink Carnation
It Simply Must Be Said: A View of American Public Education from the Trenches of Teaching
The Hidden Scroll: An Archeological Adventure
The Last Leaf: Voices of History’s Last-Known Survivors
The Throne in the Heart of the Sea
Claude & Camille: A Novel of Monet
A Parisienne in Chicago: Impressions of the World’s Columbian Exposition
Lies the Government Told You: Myth, Power, and Deception in American History
Daughters of the Witching Hill
The Keeper’s Gift (or Uley’s Journal)
Asleep: The Forgotten Epidemic that Remains One of Medicine's Greatest Mysteries
Al-Battani Shield: Counteracting Global Warming: A New Approach
Nelson’s Complete Book of Bible Maps and Charts
Anne Frank: Her life in words and pictures from the archives of The Anne Frank House
Leaving the Alamo: Texas Stories After Vietnam
Snapshot: The Visual Almanac for Our World Today
Murderous Intellectuals: German Elites and the Nazi SS
TIME Great Discoveries: Explorations that Changed History
The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bronte
Sisterhood Of Faith: 365 Life-Changing Stories About Women Who Made A Difference
The Illustrated History of Hypnotism
Faust: My Soul Be Damned for the World, Vol. 1
Faust: My Soul Be Damned for the World, Vol. 2
The Court-Martial of Charlie Newell
Disclosure in Accordance with FTC Guidelines 16 CFR Part 255
Copyrights © 2023 Feathered Quill Reviews All Rights Reserved. | Designed & Developed by Unglitch.io
