Book Description'GREAT STUFF...A classic hard-boiled, smart-mouth detective who happens to work in ancient Rome.' --Molly Ivins Los Angeles Daily News After six months in wild Germania, imperial gumshoe Marcus Didius Falco is back in Rome sweet Rome. But his apartment has been ransacked. And although he desperately needs 400,000 sesterces in order to marry his aristocratic love, Helena, his only client is his mother, who insists that he find out whether the scandalous claims against his dead brother, Festus, are true. Then the chief tarnisher of Festus's good name is murdered, and Marcus becomes the prime suspect. Someone is definitely fiddling with the scales of justice. The more Marcus hunts for the thread that will lead him out of this doom-laden labyrinth of misery and mystery, the less his life is worth. Except, as seems likely, as a meal for the Emperor's hungry lions... 'AN INTRIGUING TALE...COMPULSIVE READING.' --Roanoke Times & World-News 'A VIVIDLY REALIZED IMPERIAL ROME--NOISY, DENSE AND DANGEROUS.' --Publishers Weekly
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - Not Free SF Reader
Dodgy relative deals.
Back from Germania, Falco again has to deal with trouble that is literally much closer to home, or at least closer to family. His male relatives have more than a touch of the Arthur Daley about them, and it seems, in this particular antique business, somethign valuable has gone missing.
Amusing investigations and the odd bad joke follow. Definitely a good one.
Rating: - He ain't Heavy, He's my Brother
This is the fifth novel in the mystery series featuring Marcus Didius Falco, an informer and sleuth in Rome at the time of Vespasian. A series of books that have become hugely popular, so much so that the author is now at the forefront of historical mystery writers. It was probably a stroke of genius on her part to have novels that are extremely well researched and contain all the elements that would be and should be found in the Roman world of circa AD70, but to have a lead character who has the ... Read More
Rating: - Great Stuff!
This is an excellent book. It's sharp and witty like all Didius Falco books, but in this one we see a more vulnerable Falco as he tries to get rid of a lot of preconceived notions about his father. Geminus Falco is a wonderful character, and I certainly hope we see more of him in upcoming books. In this book Falco and his father are working together to try to clear his late brother's name and some very outstanding debts. Falco gets in a lot of scrapes as usual, but this is more of a caper book than ... Read More
Rating: - A masterful mix of history and mystery
I've been a fan of Lindsey Davis for some time. I am an amateur historian who is especially interested in ancient Rome, so I've read dozens of books on the subject. I am amazed at the wealth of detail contained in this book (and in all of Davis' Falco mysteries, all of which I've read). Such minute attention to detail not only provides an absorbing background to Davis' stories, but also testifies to her admirable efforts at presenting a plausible snapshot of ancient Rome, its geography, its history, ... Read More
Rating: - A Funfilled Journey through Rome
This was, in my opinion, one of the best Marcus Didius adventures. Marcus's relationship with his father adds great humor to an already wonderful story.
- Not Free SF Reader
- He ain't Heavy, He's my Brother
