This is the 18th installment in the Marcus Didius Falco mystery series but the first I ever read. The narrator/detective hero is an investigator who often works for the Emperor or other important figures in imperial Rome. The time is 76 A.D., so the emperor is Vespasian, and their December holiday of Saturnalia is just beginning. The plot involves a German warrior priestess fleeing from house arrest immediately after a Roman nobleman's head is found, minus his body, floating ominously in the atrium pool in front of her former quarters. Falco must track her down and turn her in, and to complicate matters, she saved his life years ago and was the first love of his current brother-in-law, who stands accused of treason for aiding her. I have to say it always helps when a detective-narrator has a great sense of humor, when his observations regularly convey droll wit, and Davis's Falco certainly scores well in that area. The large cast of characters was a bit cumbersome, but there are maps, family trees, and character summaries in the front matter so if you get confused or want to pause and re-focus as you read along, support is available.I didn't find the process of unravelling who cmmitted the murders particularly compelling in this novel, (yes, the murders accumulate as the book goes on), but for learning more about the society, culture, practices, and geographic layout of first century Rome in an entertaining and enjoyable way, this book was delightful. I am not myself a student of Latin or Classics, but if I was teaching in those areas, I might well consider supplementing coursework with student readings of books like this, because the author taught me quite a bit about the feast of Saturnalia, the first century views on medicine, and the prescribed gender, class, and family relation roles of that culture while I took pleasure in getting to know the main characters and their diverse and often humorous wide range of secondary support characters. It is clear to me just after one book what a charming and smart sidekick Falco's noble wife Helena is during his many investigations, and what a delicious arch-nemesis is provided by his investigative competition, Anacrites the Spy.I never came across this series before, but it is good enough to consider starting from the beginning, so that one might see the characters' lives go forward as they grow together.
Marcus Dedius Falco is a private investigator whose life and livelihood is determined by the cases he takes. He adores his lovely independent thinking wife, Helena, who often works with him. The latest case is to find and bring a German priestess to authorities. She has escaped from the safe house where she was held and disappeared. As she vanishes a young man dies and his head placed in a pool at the house. Did she kill the young man before leaving? Falco doesn't know but he must find her to earn his money. And, he must do so before an old rival, Chief Spy Anacrites, locates the woman and cheats him out of his finder's fee. Most of the action occurs during the Roman holiday, Saturnalia. There are chases, races, more deaths, harrowing experiences, and parties which Falco must attend with his wife for political and family reasons. A good part of the fun in reading this novel is in the humorous interaction with his family members. It's a fun read that takes one back to Rome as built as best she can by this author.
What do You think about Saturnalia (2007)?
http://nhw.livejournal.com/1023691.html[return][return]Latest in this run of detective novels set during the reign of the emperor Vespasian. After a couple of less impressive efforts in recent years, Davis seems to be firmly back on form: this is an entertaining tale of family dynamics interacting mildly with high politics - Falco is called in to track an escaped German political prisoner, who coincidentally is the former lover of his brother-in-law. Oddly enough the actual murders are the least convincing part of the plot, but the rest is good fun.
—Nicholas Whyte
Another in the Marcus Didius Falco mysteries set in December A.D. 76 Rome. This story brings back a character, German priestess who is an enemy of Rome, encounter by Falco in an earlier novel set some 10 years earlier. She has been brought to Rome and disappears and he is assigned the job of finding her along with the emperor's chief spy Anacrities. The rivalry and bad blood continues between the two as they race against each other to find the missing priestess. The case directly involves his inlaws as their son and sometimes Falco partner Justinus disappears and he was involved with the priestess during the earlier encounter. There is also a suspected murder in the house the priestess escaped from to be resolved as well.Story is set during the Roman Saturnalia celebration, has more than the usual Falco and inlaw involvement and the usual amount of humor. Good story!
—George
#16 - 2010.This is where I left off with the series; picking it up again I discovered that I actually had read the book but had such vague memories that I couldn't remember who the murderer was. I, therefore, read with much enjoyment. As anyone reading this series knows, much of the pleasure is from the development of the regular characters in Marcus Didius Falco's immediate family and author Lindsey Davis's way of making ancient customs and ways accessible to the modern reader. Highly enjoyable.
—Julie Davis
