Product Description

The fourteenth Falco novel is a tale of love, gangsters and female gladiators – including one from Falco’s own past.

Falco and his family are staying in London when Falco is summoned to the scene of a murder. The victim, Verovolcus, was a renegade with ties to Roman crime magnates operating in London, but he was also close to King Togidubnus. So when he is discovered stuffed head-first down a well, a tricky diplomatic situation develops that Falco must defuse, and which leads him into the seedy underbelly of London. There is a newly built amphitheatre in town, with female gladiators, but Falco soon realizes that the initially troublesome gladiators – including one from his own bachelor past – may just give him the edge he needs to solve Verovolcus’ murder, as the gangsters are pursued back to the Italian town of Ostia for a final showdown.


From the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #246204 in Books
• Published on: 2003-09-23
• Released on: 2003-09-23
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 7.00" h x 1.00" w x 4.25" l, .50 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Davis's 14th clever, witty adventure (after 2001's A Body in the Bathhouse) starring the suave Marcus Didius Falco, from Ancient Rome, finds the informer/investigator plying his talents on the mean and muddy streets of Londinium, Britannia, in A.D. 75. In fact, almost everything about the growing community is mean, from its dark and dingy bars to the sprawling wharves and warehouses. The discovery of a body jammed headfirst into a bar's well is enough to get Falco sent to the scene as an expert on unnatural death. Falco needs all his celebrated intelligence to survive the ensuing problems. Davis skillfully braids references to Britain's future into her story of its past without ever diminishing the thrust of Falco's adventures. And what adventures! The murder victim is a disgraced henchman of King Togidubnus, an important ally of Rome. Solving and avenging the death quickly is important to placate the king. Civil order is in disrepair, while the rapidly growing city is ripe pickings for the ambitious gangsters moving in from Rome, whom Falco and his friend Petronius, have battled before. An entourage that includes wife Helena, their two small children, his sister, Maia, and her four children gives Falco questionable help. This thoroughly entertaining addition can only burnish the luster of this fine series.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From AudioFile
Here we have the fourteenth novel in a whodunit series starring Marcus Didius Falco, a Roman investigator of the first century A.D. This time, a visit to in-laws in the backwater of Londinium, Britannia, leads to murder, intrigue, and a diplomatic crisis. The humor marking the earlier Falco adventures seems muted here, possibly because narrator Christian Rodska ignores much of it. He reads accurately, if not with much variety, in a London accent and slightly strident timbre. Fortunately, his approach--not too light, not too heavy--lets much of the book's charm and color shine through. Y.R. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Review
Nobody does it better than Lindsey Davis - the unassailable mistress of the historical thriller. For Falco, a relaxed visit to Helena's relatives in Britain turns serious at the scene of a downtown murder. The renegade henchman of Rome's vital ally, King Togidubnus, has been stuffed headfirst down a barroom well - leading to a tricky diplomatic situation that Falco must diffuse. One murder leads to others. Londinium now has a forum and an amphitheatre; the town is a magnet for legitimate traders - and for criminals from Rome. With his pal Petronius, Falco leads the hunt for gangsters who are intent on taking over. Death lurks everywhere, from the new wharves beside the River Thames to the familiar old haunts of organised crime back in Italy. Davis on cracking form.