This is the wryly humorous story of Gaius Obsequens Dolo, once a mediocre law student in Rome, now- because of his late father's tax problems- a military tribune on the Rhine trying to prosper by means of institutionalized graft, administrative ineptitude and mutiny while the Roman Empire totters around him. The unwitting secret agent of a high government official, Gaius blunders through a peasant insurrection, two civil wars, three stints in jail, and the pursuit of an acrimonious lawsuit against his brother. He's ably assisted by his cynical former slave and by his strong-willed wife, who, fortunately for him, is a human calculator.

Erik Hildinger is the author of several books, including Quirinius, Plan 9 for Murder (with his wife Elizabeth), and Warriors of the Steppe. His website is erikhildinger.com and his substack is erikhildingersubstack.com