Flavia must overcome her numbing fear of snakes.

Hepsibah is now charged with two murders and her court-case is going disastrously wrong, as Flavia's choice of lawyer is young and inexperienced. Nubia, Lupus, Flavia and Jonathan have to race against the clock to find the evidence that will clear Hepsibah. Meanwhile, the comical drunken Floridius befriends Lupus and does his daft best to help out. Jonathan's prophecy of a death comes tragically true.

Flavia and her friends are trying to save Hepsibah, a young Jewish midwife, wrongly accused of terrible crimes. Miriam is determined to protect her friend, who will deliver the babies she is expecting. Jonathan has a prophetic dream that someone will die. But who? This is one of Flavia's most difficult mysteries.

As the children close in on the man they are pursuing, they are led into a trap from which they are unlikely to escape alive. Their only hope is that Lupus can bring them help. They must catch the man who tried to kill Flavia's father before he can strike again. Who is the mysterious attacker?

In the darkness, Flavia and Nubia wake to cries and the sounds of a struggle. Flavia's father, has been stabbed and his life hangs in the balance. Only Nubia has faith that the gentle Aristo, their tutor, could not possibly be behind the attack. The children take a carruca into the hills outside Ostia, in pursuit of the murderer. But the murderer is willing to kill again...

In Rhodes, the children find the whole island is paralyzed by fear of Magnus, the mythical figure who master-minds the slave trade. There are rumors that he is a giant. The only way to save the kidnapped children is to get right inside Magnus' palace and to get evidence of his evil. In the end, Lupus has to tackle Magnus and his henchman alone.

Flavia and her friends convince Admiral Pliny of the danger of Mount Vesuvius, but can he and his fleet do anything against the might of a giant volcano?

Flavia and her friends convince Admiral Pliny of the danger of Mount Vesuvius, but can he and his fleet can do anything against the might of a giant volcano?

In the Mount Vesuvius refugee camp, Flavia discovers that children are being abducted.

The children deal with the aftermath of a volcanic eruption.

Jonathan's birthday is marred by the arrival of uncle Simian, and he upsets his friends.

Jonathan is plagued by dreams of a Cyclops, and is confused about his mother's fate.