Judge Severus returns in "Marcus Aurelius Betrayed", the third of the highly acclaimed and best selling historical mysteries set at the height of the Roman Empire. The year is now 163 CE, 2 years after the events in "The Cyclops Case" and 5 years after the events in "Mars the Avenger". It is the third year of the reign of Marcus Aurelius.
In "Marcus Aurelius Betrayed", Marcus Flavius Severus, Judge in the Court of the Urban Prefect in the City of Rome, is appointed by Emperor Marcus Aurelius as his special judge to travel to Alexandria to investigate an attempt to murder the Prefect of Egypt. Poison has been put in the Prefect’s drinking cup at an orgy, but the poison was drunk by the guest of honor, an official of the Imperial Post, who was on the couch next to the Prefect.
Judge Severus, with the assistance of his wife Artemisia, his private secretary Alexander and his court and police aides track down clues and witnesses in Alexandria in quest of a solution. On the way they encounter thefts of rare books from the Great Library of Alexandria, the production of fake antiquities and judicial murder. Eventually, through a number of plot twists and turns, the case is referred to the Emperor in Rome and the investigation continues in the capital of the Empire.
As in "Mars the Avenger" and "The Cyclops Case", Marcus Aurelius Betrayed is both a mystery and daily life of Ancient Rome, a sojourn into the world of the Roman Empire and its courts, police and criminal law. The investigation takes Severus and his aides to the wonders in the Roman province of Egypt -- the Great Library, the Museum, the Pharos Lighthouse, the Pyramids -- as well as to the streets of Alexandria, a house of high class courtesans and army maneuvers in the field. There are also scenes in the city of Rome and in Roman courts. The book is accurate as to the criminal laws and procedures of the time. All laws, rescripts and legal procedures come from Roman law sources, which are extensive for the 2nd Century CE. A culminating trial is held in Rome before the Emperor Marcus Aurelius himself where Judge Severus unravels the mystery through a series of shrewd deductions.