Agrippina, wife of Claudius, mother of Nero, was a beautiful and talented woman who saw her father murdered, was banished by her brother, and was killed on the orders of her son. Her freed man, a one-eyed former gladiator named Parmenon, tells of Agrippina's battle to survive in and control the depraved and violent Imperial Roman court, and the crumbling relationship between mother and son.

313 AD. Under the rule of Emperor Constantine, Rome finally appears to be emerging from its turbulent past. In order to consolidate his control and under the guidance of his mother Helena, Constantine plans to harness the power of the increasingly influential Christian Church. But his loyalties are brought into question when three courtesans from the Guild of Aphrodite - a guild Constantine himself frequents - are found dead. All three bodies have crosses etched on their foreheads and each cheek. Aiming to protect her son's future, Helena calls upon the service of an 'agente in rebus politicis' - or spy. Claudia is the niece of a tavern-owner and is placed as a wine-server in Constantine's household. But Claudia has secret motives of her own...

313 AD, and tempers are rising in Rome. The Emperor Constantine and his mother Helena are trying to make sense of the new Christian religion which is spreading through the Empire - but the Christians can't agree among themselves. Scholars are locked in a bitter struggle over whether Christ really was the son of God, and Constantine invites delegates from both sides to debate before him at his villa. Now strange things start to happen. Envoys from both sides are found murdered in a most macabre way. The villa is secretly attacked, and the Holy Sword is stolen. Helena calls on the help of her secret agent Claudia - that shrewd, unobtrusive detective - to untangle the dangerous web of intrigue. As she sets to work, the spy is also facing a crisis in her own life...

As the sun’s insidious heat beats down, murderous forces lurk in the underbelly of 4th-century Rome. The normally cosseted world of the city’s rich and powerful is rocked by a series of violent abductions as children of the elite are kidnapped and held for ransom. Meanwhile, veteran soldiers—men who served Constantine along the Great Wall in northern Britain—are being barbarously murdered. The indignities inflicted on their corpses are reminiscent of the gruesome practices of the Picts whom they fought so many years ago. The Empress Helena summons her secret agent, Claudia, in a bid to resolve these macabre occurrences. But Claudia has problems of her own. The perfectly preserved corpse of a young Christian woman has been disinterred in her uncle’s garden and it falls to her to investigate this mystery too. Now she must track her way through a murky tangle of politics, religion, and murderous violence, ever aware that the slightest mistake could cost her life.

September 314 AD and once more death strikes the sprawling streets of Imperial Rome in Paul Doherty's new Claudia novel. When two prostitutes are found murdered—their bodies ripped open and their right eyes gouged out—it's feared a notorious killer, the Nefandus, has returned. Rumoured to be an imperial officer, he once waged bloody murder amongstRome's prostitutes but vanished before his identity could be discovered. Has he reappeared, or is someone working in his guise? Desperate to retain order, the Empress Helena turns to her most trusted agent, Claudia.Helena commands her to discover the truth behind the Nefandus, beforeRome descends further into chaos and confusion.