This is a story of murder and redemption, exile and return, conquest and self-questioning, set in the fourth century BC and based on the life of Timoleon of Syracuse, one of Plutarch's heroes.

Yet, despite its historical antiquity, A Choice of Murder exposes dilemmas, moral and political, still unresolved. Can political assassination be justified? Should the truth always be for the public good? Can a man be acclaimed a success while simultaneously being an almost total failure?

As he participates in his multi-faceted adventures, Timo works out his relations with his city and family, with gods and changing fortune, with blood feud and friendship, with Nature and Time. Finally, old and blind, hailed as a god, a ruler without police or bodyguard, sustained by moral prestige alone, he must ponder the ironies of material achievement.
Once again, Peter Vansittart lights up the past with a succession of brilliant literary flares. Set pieces, such as the battle at the Crimesus, in all its blood and agony, flash into life and remain vividly in the mind.