The main target of Lindsey Davis’ satire in this novel is Christmas, and it is interesting to see how the two festivals resemble each other. This is not a book with a particularly fat or tortuous plot, and like higher numbers in most long-running series is most entertaining when the readers are getting up to date, soap opera style, with the various characters. We are regaled as ever with some genuine humor, tragedy and sharp character sketches as Falco plays host to a bunch of soldiers, meets a man who thinks he is a ghost, assists the fire brigade and celebrates Saturnalia in his own inimitable way. Does it give a convincing portrait of 1st century Rome? We can never really know this of course, but as usual Ms Davis is adept at drawing parallels between our own times and two thousand years ago. Sometimes this is at the expense of realism, but more often than not one of this writer’s strengths is in portraying Falco and his companions as possessing most of the mores and morals of their times. Entertaining, though not her strongest entry due to the stretched and rather linear plotline.