"The Stain of Memory," by Thomas K. Carpenter, in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, September/October 2021.
This is the second appearance in this column by Carpenter and his Roman detective.
Carpenter's Ovid is not the great poet, but a magistrate serving in a poor neighborhood of Alexandria. He is a long ways from a conventional hero, modern or Roman, being overweight and somewhat dithering. But he is clever, and honest, and has an excellent grasp of Roman law, which is vital because these stories tend to turn on quirks of this legal system.
As usual, Ovid finds himself between a rock and a hard place. To be specific, his boss, who is in charge all the magistrates and the military in the city, has brought a charge against the governor. Both of them demand that Ovid, as presiding magistrate, rule in their favor. Either can destroy him at will.
As I said, Ovid has been in tough spots before, but this time he learns something that makes the problem very personal. So, in effect, he is his own client.
A very clever story, and an excellent portrayal of the time period.
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