Lindsey Davis Novels

 

Ode to a Banker by Lindsey Davis

Amazon.com
Marcus Didius Falco, Lindsey Davis's clever private informer, passes a hot Roman summer tracking down the killer of a Greek banker and publisher. Was the killer one of Aurelius Chrysippus's stable of writers, dissatisfied with the patron's lack of enthusiasm for his latest opus or resentful about the humiliating terms of his contract? Or was Chrysippus's bloody death connected to financial shenanigans at the Aurelian Bank? Commissioned to investigate the murder by his friend Petronius Longus, Falco finds himself in the middle of a case with clues that may lie in the fragments of a manuscript found at the murder scene--or maybe in the banking records someone seems willing to kill to keep secret. At the same time, Falco's sorting out a thorny family matter concerning his mother and his sister, both of whom seem inordinately fond of an imperial spy Falco has good reason to distrust. And if that's not enough, he's also being taken to the cleaners by the contractors his wife Helena Justina has engaged to renovate their new home.
As usual, Davis brings first century Rome to glorious life, and subtly drives home the striking parallels between ancient and contemporary business, politics, and family life. In the 12th book of in this increasingly popular series, she makes the most of every opportunity for satire and spins a lively yarn guaranteed to make the reader laugh out loud and clamor for more. Fortunately, there's a solid backlist to entertain readers encountering Falco for the first time (One Virgin Too Many, Two for the Lions).


Two for the Lions by Lindsey Davis

Amazon.com
Marcus Didius Falco, Lindsey Davis's clever, ambitious, not-so-holy Roman man about town, is on special assignment for the Emperor Vespacian. This time he's tracking down tax fraud among the bestiarii, the slaughterers, and the lanistae, the suppliers of the gladiators and animals who provide the executions, spectacles, and entertainment for the Roman masses.
Hoisted by his own tarnished petard, Falco is unwillingly partnered with his ex-boss Anacrites, Rome's chief spy, but that's the least of his problems; his investigation has hardly begun when he finds himself in the tunnels under the arena with a lion named Leonidas--a man-killer who may or may not have been switched with a tamer beast for a private party meant to impress a wealthy Senator's mistress.

While Leonidas presents no immediate threat to Falco--the king of the jungle is quite dead--the circumstances of the beast's demise lead Falco to ponder a connection between a murderous feud that seems to have broken out in the ranks of the lanistae and the lucrative contracts soon to be let by the emperor for his magnificent new amphitheater. And when the most popular gladiator in Rome is killed--not in the arena, as might be expected, but while sleeping in his own bed--Falco and his patrician lover Helena take passage to Tripoli to track down the perpetrator. Along the way, they attempt to solve a domestic crisis involving Helena's youngest brother, who seems to be right in the middle of the African connection between the murders of man and beast, as well as the feud between two powerful lanistae. And there's still another reason to embark on a journey to the Dark Continent--the search for an extinct variety of wild garlic, which could make Falco a wealthy man and which ends with a hilarious denouement.

As usual, Davis serves up a generous helping of history, a raffish band of minor characters, a charming love story, and surprisingly relevant commentary on the nature of the bureaucracy, politics, and chicanery among the rich and famous. Two for the Lions promises--and delivers--a treat for the author's many fans, and a terrific introduction to his new ones.

 

The Course of Honor by Lindsey Davis

This novel tells the sweeping story of the ascendancy of the Emperor Vespasian, the impecunious son of a provincial senator who finally brought peace to Rome after years of fighting during the reigns of Tiberius, Caligula, Nero, and the year of the Four Emperors. It is also the story of the forbidden love between Emperor Vespasian and his mistress, Antonia Caenis, a slave working for Claudius's mother.

 

Last Act in Palmyra by Lindsey Davis

A new mystery featuring ancient imperial Rome's only private detective finds Marcus Didius Falco in Syria on a mission for the emperor, where he finds a corpse, loses a lady, and joins a murderous theater troupe.

 

One Virgin Too Many by Lindsey Davis

Amazon.com
Marcus Didius Falco is back in another lively first-century historical mystery. The Roman investigator, informer, and imperial spy's snappy patter, romantic leanings, strong sense of irony, and penchant for getting into interesting situations have won Lindsey Davis a growing number of fans. Flush with his earnings from an African adventure (Two for the Lions), Falco's just been rewarded for his service to the empire with an unusual bit of political patronage: he's been appointed to the largely ceremonial position of Procurator of the Sacred Poultry, meaning he's in charge of the care and feeding of a gaggle of sacred geese. This un-Falco-like upward mobility is an opportunity for Marcus to move his patrician wife, Helena Justina, and their toddler out of a tenement and into a home of their own. As much as Marcus scoffs at middle-class pretensions, he's not above leaving his seedy surroundings and providing his family with some of the finer things, if only to show his in-laws that he can. But when Helena's brother falls over a corpse that disappears before it can be identified, Falco tosses the geese some food and gets busy finding the connection between the dead man and a 6-year-old girl who's in line to be chosen as the new vestal virgin. That leads him into intrigue, danger, and a confrontation with a former vestal virgin that almost costs him his life. Well paced, with good dialogue, excellent plotting, and a cast of terrific characters surrounding Falco and Helena, including some familiar from earlier stories, One Virgin Too Many shows Davis in top form. Falco the family man is better company than ever.

 

A Dying Light in Corduba by Lindsey Davis

In the dark of the night, a man is killed and Emperor Vespasian's chief of spies is left for dead. Private eye Marcus Didius Falco agrees to investigate and the case draws him into the highly-lucrative--and deadly competitive--world of olive oil production.

 

Three Hands in the Fountain by Lindsey Davis

First-century sleuth Marcus Didius Falco confronts ancient Rome's most dangerous serial killer in the latest entry in the author's international bestselling, award-winning series.

 

Time to Depart by Lindsey Davis

Balbinus Pius, the most notorious gangster in Emperor Vespasian's Rome, has been convicted of a capital crime at last. A quirk of Roman law, however, allows citizens condemned to death "time to depart" and find exile outside the empire. Now as every hoodlum in Rome scrambles to take over Balbinus' operations, private eye Marcus Didius Falco has to deal with an unprecedented wave of crime--and the sneaking suspicion that Balbinus' exile may not really be so permanent after all.

 

The Iron Hand of Mars by Lindsey Davis

Marcus Didius Falci is Imperial Rome's idea of Columbo, a detective on a horrendous assignment involving torture and murder, whose only hope is a powerful Druid priestess who may be persuaded to help--or may do him in.

 

Shadows in Bronze by Lindsey Davis

Citizen Falco is commissioned by the emperor to find those plotting to topple the regime, but his meager wages are not enough to afford the heart of high-born beauty Helena Justina, in a mystery set in ancient Rome.

 

Poseidon's Gold by Lindsey Davis

After six months in wild Germania, imperial gumshoe Marcus Didius Falco is back in Rome sweet Rome. But his apartment has been ransacked. And although he desperately needs 400,000 sesterces in order to marry his aristocratic love, Helena, his only client is his mother, who insists that he find out whether the scandalous claims against his dead brother, Festus, are true.
Then the chief tarnisher of Festus's good name is murdered, and Marcus becomes the prime suspect. Someone is definitely fiddling with the scales of justice. The more Marcus hunts for the thread that will lead him out of this doom-laden labyrinth of misery and mystery, the less his life is worth. Except, as seems likely, as a meal for the Emperor's hungry lions...

 

Two for the Lions by Lindsey Davis

Amazon.com
Marcus Didius Falco, Lindsey Davis's clever, ambitious, not-so-holy Roman man about town, is on special assignment for the Emperor Vespacian. This time he's tracking down tax fraud among the bestiarii, the slaughterers, and the lanistae, the suppliers of the gladiators and animals who provide the executions, spectacles, and entertainment for the Roman masses.
Hoisted by his own tarnished petard, Falco is unwillingly partnered with his ex-boss Anacrites, Rome's chief spy, but that's the least of his problems; his investigation has hardly begun when he finds himself in the tunnels under the arena with a lion named Leonidas--a man-killer who may or may not have been switched with a tamer beast for a private party meant to impress a wealthy Senator's mistress.

While Leonidas presents no immediate threat to Falco--the king of the jungle is quite dead--the circumstances of the beast's demise lead Falco to ponder a connection between a murderous feud that seems to have broken out in the ranks of the lanistae and the lucrative contracts soon to be let by the emperor for his magnificent new amphitheater. And when the most popular gladiator in Rome is killed--not in the arena, as might be expected, but while sleeping in his own bed--Falco and his patrician lover Helena take passage to Tripoli to track down the perpetrator. Along the way, they attempt to solve a domestic crisis involving Helena's youngest brother, who seems to be right in the middle of the African connection between the murders of man and beast, as well as the feud between two powerful lanistae. And there's still another reason to embark on a journey to the Dark Continent--the search for an extinct variety of wild garlic, which could make Falco a wealthy man and which ends with a hilarious denouement.

As usual, Davis serves up a generous helping of history, a raffish band of minor characters, a charming love story, and surprisingly relevant commentary on the nature of the bureaucracy, politics, and chicanery among the rich and famous. Two for the Lions promises--and delivers--a treat for the author's many fans, and a terrific introduction to his new ones.

 

 

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