By Paul Carrier
Gaius Petreius Ruso, a medic assigned to the Roman Empire’s Twentieth Legion, returns in this second installment of Ruth Downie’s mystery series, which follows the grumpy doctor-cum-detective on his crime-solving trek through Roman-occupied Britannia.
This time out, Ruso, his British housekeeper, Tilla, and the legion head north to the border separating Roman turf from the territory of the “unconquered barbarians.”
A suspicious accident along the way involving a runaway cart laden with lead cripples a Roman soldier, temporarily diverting attention from a mysterious horned horseman who has been tracking the legion’s progress from a distance.
Roman officers see the elusive rider, who sports antlers, as nothing more than a troublemaking Briton. But Tilla insists he is something far more potent - a native god named Cernunnos, or a messenger sent by the god of that name.
Arriving at a small, shabby Roman outpost staffed by Batavian soldiers, Ruso tries to care for the soldier whose leg he had to amputate after the accident. But he also finds himself forced to investigate the recent murder of Felix, a now-headless soldier from the Batavian unit.
Officials insist Felix was killed by a native shortly before Ruso arrived on the scene. Yet the fort’s resident army doctor, a Greek named Thessalus, has confessed to the crime and is under guard, supposedly as a result of having gone insane.
To make matters worse, Ruso eventually discovers that Tilla has close ties to the Briton whom Roman officials view as the prime suspect in Felix’s murder. And when Ruso goes roaming through the countryside looking for Tilla, who periodically disappears, he finds himself imprisoned by angry rebels who plan to kill him.
Downie’s dry wit is on display once again in Terra Incognita. Unlike the “proper rain” that cascades from the heavens in Gaul, she writes, a British rain "simply hung around in the air like a wife waiting for you to notice she was sulking.”
Ruso’s character - a jaded but skilled medic and reluctant detective - already was well-developed in the initial book of the series. Tilla finally comes into her own in Terra Incognita. An independent-minded midwife who speaks both her native tongue and Latin, she is strong-willed and assertive, but loyal to Ruso, despite her distrust of the Roman invaders.
Not only do we finally discover key facts about Tilla’s past and her people, but her sense of humor blossoms in Terra Incognita as well, especially when she takes aim at Rome and its minions. After the centurion Postumus roughs her up a bit while questioning her about the wagon accident, for example, Ruso gets wind of the interrogation and asks Tilla about it.
“That man,” Tilla says of Postumus, “is not as funny as his nose.” Later, Tilla disdainfully describes someone from her past as “a man without honor” who has the body of a bear, the brain of a frog and the lovemaking skills of “a dying donkey with the hiccups.”
In the course of detailing Ruso’s efforts to unravel the facts surrounding Felix’s murder, Downie explores not only the complex relationship between Roman rulers and their British subjects, but also the Britons’ conflicted attitudes toward the occupiers.
Some natives plot rebellion against Rome. Others, such as Tilla, also remain true to their ancestral roots, while grudgingly making the concessions that are needed to live in both worlds. And some are fully “Romanized,” preferring Latin over their own language and giving themselves Roman names.
