Buried Too Deep

When a wounded farmer dies at their inn, twins Aurelia Marcella and her brother Lucius head for the coast to return the man's body to his family and to investigate a shipwreck bearing cargo that may have been stolen by outlaw sea raiders who are suspected of killing the farmer, only to find themselves caught in the middle of an escalating feud between Roman colonists and the Britannia natives.

About the Author :
Jane Finnis grew up in Yorkshire, northern England. For twenty years she lived and worked in London as a radio producer and reporter, and as a computer programmer, but then she moved back to Yorkshire, with her husband Richard. Now they live near the East Yorkshire coast. www.janefinnis.com

Review :
Aurelia Marcella is the keeper of an inn in the province of Britannia in 98 AD. Along with her twin brother, Lucius, who is mostly absent on government business, Aurelia's position is an important one. A man who has been mortally wounded in a fight with sea-raiders alerts Aurelia to the problems being caused to farmers along the coast by the marauders. Before he dies, the man suggests that Aurelia and Lucius's sister, Alba, and her husband might be in danger. Alba used to work at the inn until she married and she and her husband bought property to farm. In the meantime, Lucius has returned to the area, apparently still on some secret government assignment. When word arrives of a Roman ship carrying valuable cargo that has run aground, he doesnit seem surprised. Aurelia goes with him to view the wreckage and also to visit with Alba and find out if they have been troubled by raiders. Alba's family and their neighbors report being pressured to sell their farms to an important Roman family who has recently settled in the area. They are intending to amass a large holding and speculation persists that perhaps the sea-raiders are in the pay of the land grabbers. First inspired by seeing the Roman remains at York, Jane Finnis, who lives on the East Yorkshire coast, immerses herself in local history. Aurelia Marcella has now appeared in three books; she is an independent and adventurous spirit who is very appealing to the reader. Along with her siblings and their extensive network of friends, employees and customers, Aurelia is brought vividly to life. Roman Britain may seem like the distant past, but human nature has changed very little from those days. Deceit, land grabbing, greed, andjealousy are nothing new. Yet love, family devotion, and loyalty are equally represented. It is fascinating to inhabit those days in the pages of this book. In Finnis's spirited if at times overly complicated third Roman historical to feature innkeeper Aurelia Marcella, who runs the Oak Tree mansio in the wilds of occupied Britannia (after 2005's A Bitter Chill), sea raiders believed to be led by a barbarian, Voltacos, have been attacking people along the coast. Aurelia's twin brother, Lucius, a government agent, arrives to investigate the possibility that these raiders are gold-seeking marauders from Gaul. Meanwhile, greedy Roman landowner Ostorius Magnus and his unsavory nephew have been squeezing tribesmen off their lands. A shipwreck sets off rumors of buried treasure when the vessel's strongbox is found to contain a severed head rather than the expected plunder. During their long quest, Aurelia and Lucius spot Voltacos's men mysteriously digging a trench. Various murders further muddy the case. Some readers may have trouble keeping track of the many characters, but all will cheer the upbeat ending. (June) Political cross-currents lead to murder in ancient York. It's 98 CE in the Roman province of Britannia. Innkeeper and sometime sleuth Aurelia Marcella (A Bitter Chill, 2005, etc.) tells of the arrival of a gravely wounded farmer named Belinus at her establishment. With her twin brother and business partner Lucius away, it falls to Aurelia to have the nearest doctor summoned. He arrives too late, and Belinus dies, but not before summoning Aurelia to his deathbed with the urgent message that the Gauls, working for an unknown but powerful man, are trying to usurp all the land as a prelude to a standoff against Rome. When Lucius returns from a spying mission for the empire, Aurelia fills him in on recent events, and the pair escorts Belinus's body on the journey eastward to his coastal home, partly out of duty -- Belinus was a valuable source of information for Lucius -- and partly out of curiosity. Their odyssey isn't arduous but it's eventful. They rescue a shepherd boy, lose a cache of gold and, at the shore, find a wrecked ship that's apparently disgorged a band of dangerous pirates onto the land. Finnis's well-crafted prose subtly weaves authoritative detail into a believable portrait of everyday life near the turn of the millennium. More historical adventure than conventional mystery, but highly readable and endlessly absorbing.