(Old Bones is the 5th of the Marcus Corvinus series)

I sat down on one of the couches. ‘So, Stepfather,’ I said. ‘Who did you kill?’

‘He didn’t kill anyone!’ Mother snapped. ”Don’t be silly!

I sighed. ‘Okay. So who didn’t you kill?’

Marcus Corvinus doesn’t seriously think that his stepfather is a murderer: Priscus wouldn’t hurt a fly. But he did discover the corpse, and he was found standing over it with the knife in his hand, so proving the old man’s innocence presents quite a challenge.

Corvinus is back in Italy, suckered into a spell of tomb-bashing with his antiquities-mad stepfather. Not at all his idea of a holiday. However, a murder does spice things up, and the victim had enemies enough. Including a cuckolded husband…

read the 1st chapter