A Dying Light in Corduba

Imported hard cover book arrived in excellent condition. Nice publication from England. But what made me gasp was that it was signed by the author!

I don't always go for mysteries set in ancient Roman times, but Didius is such a likeable character with a great sense of social irreverence and a healthy disrespect for the foibles of human nature. He's an informer or what we would call a private eye. The series has a long term arc of Didius' personal relationships particularly to his wife Helena Justina, his aristocratic in-laws, his own confusing family and many friends and enemies. In One Virgin Too Many, the first in the series that I read, Didius and Helena had a child and we learned that his brother-in-law, Aelianus had a romantic failure with a Spanish heiress. The thought of this detective in Andalucia (where Corduba is located) and more info on the background of the characters in One Virgin Too Many helped ensnare me. The mystery starts out with Didius attending the banquet for the society of Baetican (i.e. Spanish) Olive Oil Producers. After the banquet, which is a snarling vicious affair, Didius learns that his old enemy, the Chief Spy Anacrites who was also there, has been attacked and nearly bludgeoned to death, and another man, an informer Didius had only met that night, but rather liked, has been killed. Didius is hired by the imperial agent Laeta to find out what the heck is going on. Unfortunately all the olive oil producers have fled back to Southern Spain. Meanwhile poor Didius' girlfriend is about to give birth to their first child. Didius knows he must refuse the assignment. But Helena knows he must take it. Fortunately her father, the senator Camillus Verus happens to have some olive oil fields in Southern Spain. The couple visit the area under the pretext of checking out the family lands. But really they're there to investigate a murder and an attempted murder that occured in the imperial city itself. The plotting is complex yet followable, and Davis does an excellent job of creating, presenting and illustrating characters and relationships from differing social backgrounds and of various abilities. It's a very entertaining series, and this one particularly so because the Spanish portion of the Roman empire is so well drawn.

I always look forward to a new Falco novel. This one had to wait a while because I was hung up on Last Act. Time to Depart went quickly, but this one seemed to drag again. I guess I think Marcus and Helena need to stay in Rome more. The traveling seems to drag the story down too much. I don't remember feeling that way about the earlier books in the series, but Last Act was really bad. I stopped half way through it and let it lay for six months. This one didn't sit that long, but it did take the better part of a week to read and that seems like a little too long. I did like the interplay betwen Falco and Helena. I missed Petronius and Falco's family. The books just seem to flow better when set in Rome. I hope the next one, which I am eagerly awaiting returns to the seven hills.

Lindsey Davis has succeeded in maintaining the flavour of ancient Rome and the raffish humour that permeates the Falco books. The plot is convincingly thought through and Falco's relationship with his very pregnant girlfriend, Helena Justina, is amusingly and affectionately portrayed. It is a substantial read; I hope that Davis's fans in the U.S. get to read her latest Falco book "Three Hands in the Fountain" soon. I will not spoil things by revealing the story line for this latest book, but will only say that Davis has convincingly maintained her standards yet again. A little snippet - Falco's and Helena's baby daughter is named Julia Junilla Laeitana, after both the grandmothers! "B.G." - if you are reading this review, please get in touch with me. I have changed my e-mail address and have misplaced yours. Sorry!

Ancient Roman private investigator Marcus Didius Falco and Chief Spy Anacrites attend the Following of the Society of Olive Oil Producers' banquet. After the dinner party ends, Anacrites is shot by an assailant using a golden arrow that was last seen as part of the costume of an exotic dancer, who is now on her way to Spain. Falco begins to investigate the attempted murder and soon links the crime to the members of the Society of Olive Oil Producers, who are trying to establish a cartel. However, though he now understands who and why, Falco still has to find proof if he plans to go up against this economic giant. He also has promised his pregnant lover that he will be there when she gives birth. Being a person of high moral principles, Falco takes his spouse with him even if though it means placing her in danger. A DYING LIGHT IN CORDUBA is the usual fun to read Falco mystery. Rome comes to full life with its economic crime and political shenanigans. Though the criminals are obvious early on in the story , Falco's humorous efforts to prove they did it, adds the needed element to this wonderful historical who-done-it. Falco's efforts turn this fiction into a must read for fans of the sub-genre. Harriet Klausner