Excerpt from The Accusers by Lindsey Davis, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

I had no interest in the trial and I wasn't going to stick around to be called irrelevant. Once my job there was finished, I left. The prosecutor never even spoke to me. He must have done a decent job, because not long afterwards I heard that Metellus had been convicted and that a large financial judgment had been made against him. Presumably he was quite well off-well, he had been until then. We joked that Falco and Associates should have asked for a higher fee.

Two weeks later Metellus was dead.Apparently it was suicide. In this situation his heirs would escape having to pay up, which no doubt suited them. It was hard luck on the prosecutor, but that was the risk he took.

He was Silius Italicus. Yes, I mentioned him. He was extremely well-known, quite powerful-and suddenly for some reason he wanted to see me.

Copyright © 2003 by Lindsey Davis