Only three weeks have passed since the morning of the shooting to this bright afternoon when M’Lou drives me home from the hospital, but it feels like a lifetime.  My unmown lawn of wildflowers has turned sere and brown.  The coral vine, in which I have always suspected a Julio-Claudian lust for world domination, has sent out feelers that have attached themselves like tiny reptilian feet to the front-door screen.  -p. 38

I’ve always enjoyed Goodman’s books, both for the writing and the stories, but they always make me feel undereducated.  Her heroines tend to be scholars, fluent in Latin, and well-read.  They also have a tendency to get caught up in mysteries and Bad Things.  But there’s usually enough history mixed with the mystery that her books aren’t really classified as mysteries.  Whatever the case, I read this for the RIP Challenge, and it’s counting as my second book.  (Finally, a challenge I’m actually making progress on!)

Goodman’s latest is set in both Austin, Texas, and Italy, specifically Naples and Capri.  Professor Sophie (which means wisdom…gee, how subtle) Chase, despite her initial objections, ends up in Italy to study ancient scrolls found at the Night Villa, an ancient villa buried when Vesuvius erupted in AD 79. While Sophie is studying the scrolls for mention of the slave Iusta (the topic of her thesis), there are other people interested in the excavation…each with their own agenda. Mixed in with the mystery of the villa (because there are pictures of lewd and lascivious acts that happened there) is a mysterious cult devoted to the ancient mathematician Pythagoras. It seems that wherever Sophie goes, the Tetraktys are sure to follow.

This is typical Goodman.  Her books definitely have a formula.  There’s the above-mentioned smart, highly educated, academic heroine, a heavy focus on the study of Classics, and a mystery.  And there are usually a few characters killed off in the course of the book.  Nothing too gruesome, but they’re definitely sacrificed for the sake of the plot.  And there is always a sense that something Bad is about to happen, and that everyone is out to get our intrepid heroine.

This time, the bad does happen, but it was a bit overdone.  Goodman spent so much time setting up false baddies that you just knew they weren’t really the baddies.  And the discovery of the real baddies was a bit, oh I don’t know…juvenile?  Not in keeping with the rest of the story? Immature? Dumb? Whatever, it was, the ending was a bit lame.

In fact, the more I think about it, the more I don’t like the ending.  So I think I’ll stop thinking about it, and just end with…if you’re thinking about reading a Goodman book, start with her earlier stuff, and end there.