AD72 Marcus Didius Falco, imperial agent and informer, arrives in Petra with his aristocratic love, Helena Justina, on a mission from the Emperor Having found a murdered Roman playwright in a sacred pool and argued with the local authorities, he leaves town in a hurry, along with the dead man's employers, a travelling theatre group Then he is hired as the group's new writer Another body is found the murderer may strike again, but at whom and can Falco breath life into the New Comedy?