Saturnalia (Marcus Didius Falco) - Hardcover

Davis, Lindsey

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312361297 ISBN 13: 9780312361297

Publisher: Minotaur Books, 2007

Synopsis

It's 76 A.D. during the reign of Vespasian and the Roman holiday of Saturnalia has begun. The days are short; the nights are for wild parties. But not for Marcus Didius Falco. Falco is an informer by trade - his job is to uncover unwelcome truths and deal with sensitive situations, frequently at the behest of the imperial government. And just such a case has arisen. A general has captured a famous enemy of Rome, and brings her home to adorn his eventual Triumph as a ritual sacrifice. But everything goes wrong from there - first she acquires a mysterious illness, then a young man is horrendously murdered and she escapes from house arrest.
     Marcus Didius Falco, hired to find her and return her to custody before Saturnalia is over, is pitted against his old rival, the Chief Spy Anacrites. The two of them are in a race against time to find the fugitive before the public learns of the situation, making the government look stupid. Falco, however, has other priorities. Helena's brother Justinus has also vanished, perhaps fatally involved once more with the great lost love of his youth.
     Against the riotous backdrop of the season of misrule, the search seems impossible and only Falco seems to notice that some dark agency is bringing death to the city streets…

About this title

About the Author

Lindsey Davis's novels featuring Marco Didius Falco are published in over a dozen languages throughout the world and are perennial bestsellers in many. She is the winner of the first Ellis Peters Historical Dagger (for Two of the Lions) among other awards, and she resides in London, England.

Reviews

As the festive holiday of Saturnalia approaches in Davis's well-crafted 18th Roman historical (after 2006's See Delphi and Die), informer Marcus Didius Falco receives an imperial commission from Emperor Vespasian to solve the murder of nobleman Sextus Gratianus Scaeva. The victim's brother-in-law was holding a valued captive, Veleda, a female German rebel leader who had caused plenty of problems for the Roman Empire. She somehow escaped at the same time the crime occurred, becoming the prime suspect in the process. Unconvinced that the mystery can be wrapped up neatly with the capture of the fugitive, Falco, aided as always by his astute and independent wife, Helena Justina, pursues other leads even as he hopes to find Veleda and prevent further political turmoil. The occasional anachronistic colloquial phrase jars a bit, but overall Davis does her usual sound job of bringing first-century Rome to life. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A rebellious German priestess and a murdered nobleman keep informer-investigator Marcus Didius Falco busy in Davis' eighteenth historical whodunit set in Rome in 76 CE. Falco fights crime in the morally depraved city at the pleasure of the emperor, a duty that becomes even more daunting during the season of debauchery known as Saturnalia. As the novel opens, German beauty Veleda (whom Falco first encountered in 1993's The Iron Hand of Mars) has escaped house arrest around the same time young Gratianus Scaeva is found dead, his decapitated head floating in the atrium pool at his family's villa. Adding to Falco's woes is news that his married brother-in-law (who happens to be one of Veleda's former lovers) has gone missing. As always, the shrewd and outspoken Falco is helped by his headstrong wife, Helena Justina, and hindered by nefarious Anacrites, Rome's Chief Spy. Davis serves up a huge cast of characters and colorful descriptions of daily life in first-century Rome, details sure to please readers with an affinity for ancient history. Allison Block
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Minotaur Books
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0312361297
• ISBN 13: 9780312361297
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352