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Black Salamander |
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 Black Salamander byMarilyn Todd MacMillan Crime 327 pages, 2000 ISBN 0333766717 Reviewed by our UK Editor Rachel A Hyde Claudia is back, with her cat Drusilla in tow and long-suffering patrician lover Marcus trailing, in this sixth outing for this delightful heroine. This time, Claudia has left Rome behind her in yet another get-rich-quick scheme to save her vineyards. She is on her way across the mountains to Vesontio in Gaul as part of a trade delegation. Her luggage contains a pouch with a secret item, which she has to deliver to sell off a whole year’s crop and stave off the jackals from her failing business. But a landslide – accidental or provoked – leaves the party stuck in the mountains, with several dead and injured. This is head-hunting country, a primitive place where wicker men are burned with the victims inside. Soon Claudia finds herself confronted with a rising body count, an enigmatic guide called The Silver Fox, and the knowledge that she is not the only person carrying a Black Salamander pouch. Ancient Rome is a popular setting for whodunits these days. Marcus has to contend with a Gaulish prisoner who has been tortured as a matter of course. Claudia’s trip through the mountains makes the reader realize the tremendous differences between travel two thousand years ago and today. Slim passes, strings of mules, hostile locals and human sacrifices place this novel firmly in the past and this makes it all the more powerful. Todd spins a good yarn too and keeps the reader guessing. There is plenty to amuse and surprise, but it is the feel for the period that stays in one's mind long after the book has been read. |
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