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’ 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.
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“This entertaining series continues as Falco is challenged to locate both the art treasure hidden by his deceased brother as well as to clear his own name from a murder charge…The first-person narrative immediately draws readers into the story. Falco’s dry wit surfaces with puns and satirical asides, and the conversations are especially realistic.”
— Library Journal
“Fast-moving, funny, and full of atmostphere; if you haven’t met Marcus Didius Falco before, start here.”
— Mail on Sunday“Great stuff…A classic hard-boiled, smart-mouth detective who happens to live in ancient Rome.”
— Los Angeles Daily News“A vividly realized imperial Rome—noisy, dense, and dangerous.”
— Publishers Weekly“The latest installment in Davis’ creative series about the first-century Roman sleuth Marcus Didius Falco couldn’t be wittier or more vivid and charming…A thoroughly enjoyable romp.”
— BooklistLindsey Davis is an English novelist of historical fiction and best known for her award-winning historical crime stories set in ancient Rome and its empire, the acclaimed Marcus Didius Falco series and the Flavia Albia series. Her novels have won numerous awards, including the Crime Writers’ Association Ellis Peters Historical Dagger Award and in 2011 the Cartier Diamond Dagger from the Crime Writers Association for lifetime achievement. Born and raised in Birmingham, England, she read English at Oxford and worked for the civil service for thirteen years before becoming a writer.