The latest adventure for the Roman sleuth and glamorous heroine of I, Claudia Claudia was just ten years old when her father marched off to war and never came home. Now it's time to uncover the truth about his disappearance. The search takes her to the dense, dark forests of Gaul, where Druid Law rules and human sacrifice is still practised. And staying at the villa of the cold, egotistical Marcia, who has even commissioned a spectacular tomb to ensure her immortality, Claudia can't help noticing that several young women have disappeared from the local area. Suspicion quickly falls on a mysterious woodsman known as the Scarecrow, but she isn't convinced. Nor has it escaped her notice that each victim is unblemished and in the fullness of bloom. Just as she is herself . . .