Rating:  - Myth Adventures in Old Londin(ium)
First, the positive, Lindsey Davis has skillfully worked new discoveries of London in the time of Roman occupation into the fabric of an interesting plot centering on corruption and organized criminal enforcers. The author injects some humor by allowing the reader to contrast the London of today with the dingy alleys of drab Londinium.
The bad news is that this novel is written well below Davis's usual standard with clumps of text in clumsy declarative sentences that are couched in passive construction. Even a fight scene in the arena, with criminals facing a band of female gladiators, is written in this flat colorless style. Passages of excellent writing would engage my interest and then suddenly I would be wading through dead prose as if the author was just going through the motions. It was like reading an outline with no life given to the characters and no urgency in the plot. I think the writer may lose some interest when her hero Marcus Didius Falco is working outside of Rome. I know I do. I almost gave this only two stars.
Rating: - Unexpected pleasures
I picked up my first Marcus Didius Falco novel when I wanted a tape to listen to while I drove or walked, and besides the plot, a couple of things drew me to this "reading" experience enough that I checked out this novel and two others.
First, I enjoyed hearing about what life was like in the Roman empire, though I now want to read about actual life in the Roman empire (whether in Rome, Hispania, or Londinium, the only places I've read about so far), since I don't know how well the novels are grounded in facts. The crime detection sounds fairly modern (though without modern technology).
Second, in the first tape I listened to, Falco sounded kind of like a guy from Brooklyn. In this novel, read by someone else, he has a bit more of a cockney accent. I kind of enjoy comparing the performances (and mispronunciations) of the various reader-performers, wondering whether a word that seems clearly mispronounced is because nobody bothered to correct a mispronunciation or because the British readers simply say words incredibly differently than American readers would.
I did learn to check the book out of the library along with the taped recording, because in the front of the books is a map of things as they were at the time. I was a little confused without the map. I know, I know, we're supposed to buy the book, but I do not buy books on tape.
Rating:  - Not Free SF Reader
London Calling.
Falco, fresh from rooting out corruption in the last book, decides to take the relatives on a trip to Londinium. Yes, that means dead people there, one of them known to the bloke Falco was sorting things out for previously. Even more of a surprise is bumping into Petronius, and the pair of them get involved with the criminal element and a racket going on in a 'chain' of pubs in town.
Lots of fun, this one, with the two old stalwarts and a bit of younger help.
Rating: - Body in the Bathhouse, Part II
Well, continuing right along in our visit to rainy barbarian Britain, now we are in dark and dingy London town in its early days, certainly before civilisation got a good foothold. There is hope, however, for what is the new appearance there of a Roman criminal gang but the other side of Roman civilization, a sign London was becoming worthwhile?
Having resolved a problem with local ruler Togidubnus (in BODY), imperial agent Falco and his family intend to vacation with his patrician wife's cousins in London. "Intend" is the operative word. Falco soon stumbles on murder linked to that ruler, a protection racket, ugly enforcers, sharp practice, and shadowy bosses. Maybe these bosses are so shadowy because the setting is so often dark, muddy, and bleak--as life on the frontier must often have seemed to a true Roman.
Davis's acerbic wit is entertainingly honed here; in recent books it's been too too. Its anachronistic and decidedly British slang can be excused by the nationalities of the setting and the author. Both these books (BODY and JUPITER) show an increasingly literal and explicit archaeological basis for her descriptions of place in her novels. With her map it provides a better sense of distance and effort to the story's actions, and a better sense they might really have happened. The Londinium map even shows us how it "maps onto" (or rather is buried under) the center of modern London. Remarkable! Falco's adventures read like a tourist's guide to ancient London, too, as he explores its scruffy byways from top to bottom, from court to cantina, from an arena with the trendy idea of female gladiators, to criminal hangouts along the fetid Thames.
Falco and his police buddy, Petronius (who just happens to be in town on some unspecified mission), get into some very tight and dangerous corners. Long-time readers of this series will have noticed that Falco most readily gets into that sort of trouble when he hares off on his own. In his mind, noble causes often win out over caution or common sense teamwork, much to the frustration of his lovely wife, Helena. She is, once again, the most likable character in the whole series. With the children underfoot now, we don't see enough of her on the case.
It will be good to be quit of Britannia once again, by Jove, and returning to Rome where Davis shines.
Rating: - It Was A Dark and Stormy Day In Londinium...
After Marcus Didio Falco solved the mystery of A BODY IN THE BATHOUSE, the thirteenth book in the Marcus Didio Falco Mystery Series, the Falcos planned to remain in Londinium for a vacation, staying with relatives. Then, a man suspiciously drowns at a local pub and the Falcos learn they will be staying in Londinium a little longer than they'd first anticipated.
Roman London, A.D. 75, is nothing like modern day London. It's primitive. With its imminent and endless downpours muddying the roads and the hearts and souls of its people, Londinium is the perfect setting for a murder mystery noir. The only smiles in this dark tale are those the reader leaks out in response to our sarcastic sleuth's wry comments to himself and others. How apropos that the unfortunate murder victim is drowned behind a pub on the wrong side of town.
Solving the murder isn't the only mystery in town. Keeping track of the suspects and the story lines is like trying to watch sideshows at the Circus Maximus. Who was the murdered man and why is his demise of such interest to the king and to Rome? Who is the waif Marcus's wife, Helena, rescues from the streets? What is Marcus's best friend, Petro, doing in London and why is he hiding from Marcus? What does Jupiter have to do with London? Why would Amazonia, the infamous female gladiator, have Marcus seized by her troops?
The plots are as thick with theories and red herrings as the streets and rivers of Londinium are with sludge, muck and bodies. Getting to know Marcus, his family and colleagues starting with this book, the fourteenth in the series, is like trying to understand I, Claudius beginning with its seventh episode. History buffs will enjoy the maps and historical references, noir fans will enjoy the ever-present gloom and disorder, and THE JUPITER MYTH will likely be best appreciated and enjoyed by faithful followers of the Marcus Didio Falco Mystery Series.
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