Three Hands in the Fountain — Lindsey Davis

From spectacles at the Colosseum to sub rosa schemes in the Forum, Lindsey Davis "makes ancient Rome feel as real as ... L.A." says Publishers Weekly. This time, her series detective, the tough-skinned Marcus Didius Falco, must dive into a chilling case of a lady gone to pieces...

In vino, veritas. But in Rome's water supply, horror--as a woman's hand bobs up in a fountain. Marcus Didius Falco and his new partner, Petronius "Petro" Longus, hope to make a splash for their new detective agency by investigating. Roman officials, however, order them to stay out of the pond. Soon other female body parts float down Rome's two hundred miles of aqueducts, and Falco is dangerously defying his old boss, Chief Spy Anacrites, to find the killer. Now Falco has no place to go but down: into cisterns, reservoirs, and the dank world of Rome's bottom feeders, where blood is thicker than water.