Baiae, 59 AD.

Aemilius Valerius promised Junius Atreus a holiday, and what better place to take one than the glittering resort town of Baiae, as famous for its hot springs and ocean views as it is for its drunken debauchery and moral decay? Not that Valerius and Atreus have time to enjoy any of that, because a young patrician woman is murdered and they are tasked to find her killer.

Between weird cults, underground grottos, dinners with the emperor, and the chaos of Mad Uncle Maro in party planner mode, it’s a race against time for Valerius and Atreus. Not only do they have a murder to solve, but Nero’s mother, Agrippina, is also coming to Baiae—she hates Valerius, and she’s killed better men than him before breakfast.

What happens in Baiae doesn’t stay in Baiae. What happens in Baiae is going to change the course of an empire, whether Valerius and Atreus survive it or not.