Review of Foreign Bodies by David Wishart pub. Severn House 2016
Marcus Corvinus, on board the Imperial yacht Leucothea, is out on deck early:
“Not that I was the first one awake, mind. I noticed that Crinas was up on the half-deck, doing what I assumed were his normal morning exercises.
Me, like most Romans, I’ve never understood the Greek passion for physical exercise. Gently tossing a ball around in the palaestra before a bath, sure, I can get that, although I’m not one for it much myself, but sit-ups like our doctor pal was currently doing – plural and very much so – are completely beyond the pale.
He looked good on it, mind, I’ll give him that. Not an ounce of flab on his gleaming, tightly muscled torso or even the hint of a pot belly. Bastard.”
Not only is Dr Domitius Crinas a fitness fanatic, he lives on porridge, raw veg and fruit and hardly drinks alcohol. Not Corvinus’s ideal travelling companion, then. Perilla, though, takes to him, because she feels Corvinus is drinking too much and has decided to limit him to four cups a day.
The yacht is bound for Gaul, where Crinas is to survey medicinal hot springs for the army and Corvinus is to investigate a murder in Lugdunum (Lyons) on behalf of new emperor Claudius, whose surprising interest in the death of a Gaulish wine merchant stems from a family patron-client connection. Indeed the relationship between Rome and its colonies will prove to be crucial to the case and, as often happens in this series, who is in the right, and whether an act is a crime, depends very much on where one is standing.
Apart from Corvinus and Perilla, the only regular who really appears is Bathyllus. But there is still plenty of humour, mostly provided by Corvinus’s exasperation with Crinas and frustration at enforced sobriety. It’s also very tense, especially after the scene shifts to Treveri (Trier) and the murders start to mount up. One bit I really liked was Corvinus’s description, in note form, of the nine-day coach journey from Massilia (Marseilles) to Lugdunum:
“Day One, to Aquae Sextiae. Veteran colony, hot springs, so Crinas happy as a pig in muck; ditto Perilla (ancient temple to the local goddess Dexsia. Don’t ask). Put up for the night with stone-deaf ex-legionary First Spear who looked old enough to have fought at Cannae.
Day Two, to Arelate. Veteran colony again. Serious monuments, but Perilla banned from sightseeing on pain of instant divorce. Crinas went swimming in the Rhone River but unfortunately failed to drown.”
There’s a list of all these places, with their modern names, in the notes, by the way.
As I've explained before, I have been posting reviews of Wishart's books because I discovered that some fellow-fans had missed out on those that came out after he changed publishers. Last I heard, he was self-publishing, but you can keep up with his publications at his website .
