Lindsey Davis

After several months in the east, informer Marcus Didius Falco lands in the midst of an organized crime investigation immediately upon his return to Rome. The corruption may have infiltrated the ranks of the vigiles, so Falco is tasked with investigating the investigators. This pits Falco against his best friend, Petronius “Petro.” Will their friendship survive? On the domestic front, Marcus and Helena search for new lodgings in anticipation of an addition to the family.

I like the way that Davis alternates the settings between Rome and its provinces. The books set in Rome allow Davis to develop the secondary characters, including Marcus’s many sisters and their children and Helena’s parents and brothers. The books set in other locations allow Davis to explore the far reaches of the Roman Empire. This pattern works well for me.… (more)

Informer Marcus Didius Falco has two commissions that take him east. The first comes from the emperor by way of Falco’s nemesis, Anacrites. Not wanting Helena Justina to know about the first commission, he accepts a second from Thalia. It seems that Thalia’s water organist ran off with a young man, and Thalia wants her back. The last news of her -came from the Decapolis. After a misadventure in Petra, Falco and Helena fall in with a group of traveling players headed for the Decapolis. Since there is strength in numbers, Falco and Helena join the troup, with Falco replacing the recently deceased playwright. Falco can look for the missing water organist as the group tours the Decapolis, and he can also look for the murderer who dispatched his much-disliked scriptwriting predecessor.

Although the plot has some deficiencies (including a dropped story line early on), I particularly enjoyed its setting. Petra is always fascinating, and the Decapolis is familiar to me from Sunday School since Jesus traveled there. It’s an unusual setting even for historical fiction, but it really worked for me.… (more)

Maybe I wasn't in the mood.

This episode takes place entirely in Rome, where a violent criminal mastermind has been sentenced to exile on pain of death. Petra and Marcus are among the officials there to see him off. Strangely, significant criminal activity, including murder, increases after he sails, and the duo spend a lot of time and energy trying to figure out who has taken his place. In the meantime, Marcus has been ordered to find out who among the various cohorts, including Petra's, are corrupt, which puts him on a collision course with Petra, Helena is definitely pregnant, a deaf infant is found in the trash, Falco's landlord and washerwoman have planned a ludicrous marriage.

There were too many Roman names for me to keep track of on audio - maybe it reads better in print.… (more)