This one is a murder mystery, set in ancient Rome at the time of Nero. A senator is murdered and one of the slaves is suspect. By law, when one slave is found guilty of murdering his or her owner, all of the slaves must die. (I think the logic is that the rest of the household might be "tainted".) One of the slaves, Hylas, has escaped and now he must elude the police and try to find the true killer before the rest of his household is executed. It's a nicely written tale, with engaging characters. Worth checking out for a couple of hours of reading pleasure.
--J. ( )