Scandal Takes a Holiday

Set in AD 76. When the Roman private informer (the equivalent of today's PI) Falco takes his family for a holiday in a nearby port town, he is naturally not opposed to picking up a little paying work on the side. Intending merely to locate a missing gossip columnist, Falco finds himself amidst a group of murderous prirates. The plot weaves through family matters and law enforcement, and provides a close look at ancient Roman life. Faloco's path runs through every corner of the city of Ostia, builing a detailed picture of this politically and economically important port. Davis' research leads to an authentic portrayal of life and politics in the first century AD.

Our intrepid hero has the task of finding a missing gossip writer in the seaport town of Ostia. Of course, with Falco, nothing is ever as simple as it initially appears, and quite soon he finds himself up to his neck in various nefarious doings. In addition, he meets an uncle who is never spoken about by the rest of the family, and also learns some very interesting things about his father. This is a rollicking story, and it moves along quite rapidly. The Falco series is one of the best, and this book certainly lives up to the quality of the others.

Lindsey Davis has weaved another spell for her reader. Falco is back at his best surrounded by (and hindered) by his family. there are many authors writing crime in this format and most of them do it very well, but Lindsey Davis is still the best. There is something about Falco that endears him to the reader. The sights and sounds of Ancient Rome leap off the page at you. I have not said anything about the plot of the book, why spoil it. JUST READ THE BOOK, YOU'LL LOVE IT.

Who would have thought that in 76 A.D. Rome had a newspaper named the Daily Gazette that came complete with a gossip column? Who would have thought that Rome had a newspaper at all? What, they hand wrote it on scrolls? Ok, so it's a little stretch of the imagination. But at least it's not written in Latin. Linsey Davis writes with an interesting mix of the ancient with the present. If you're not going to write in Latin, you had just as well bring the rest of the language up to date as well, as in "Too right, my boy!" The story is about Marcus Didius Falco a private detective, a private informer, is on a case involving the writer of the gossip column, who has vanished. By my count this is the sixteenth in the series. And any mystery character who can survive fifteen books and still have enough to do another book has something going for them. And in this case that includes a Crime Writers Association award as well as a legion of fans.

Lindsey Davis' latest Falco finds our sleuth and entire family taking a trip to Rome's port, Ostia, to track down a missing hack who has inexplicably gone missing from the Daily Gazette. The journalist in question, Diocles, writes the infamous scandal column as the pseudonymal Infamia. In the event, the murder (and its solution) takes second place to the far greater kidnap conspiracies that are going on at the port by the officially non-existent pirates. So, Marcus finds himself with Helena Justina and their two toddlers in a vigile-rented apartment whilst Petro and Maia have managed to second a luxury villa owned by the builders-guild headman. After fruitlessly following several dead end leads in his search for the missing Diocles, Helena's studious reading of the journalistic scribblings left behind throw up a single name. Damagoras. Unfortunately, the only person who has a lead on this elusive man is Marcus' brother-in-law, the corpulent shipping clerk, Gaius Baebius, However, by the time the pair arrive at the ex-pirate's home they find themselves on the wrong end of a topiary-attacking madman, Cratidas, and end up in the first of many dark underground cells. At this point the story really takes off as Marcus stumbles over a kidnapping of senator Posidonius' daughter, Rhodoppe. It turns out it is one of a pattern of kidnappings and one that is further complicated when the victim falls in love with one of her kidnappers, Theopompus, who promptly chases after and declares intent to marry her. This unforseen turns of events forces the kidnap gang into the open and an uneasy alliance rapidly self-destructs at Theopompus' funeral after he is also murdered. This enables the vigiles to crack down hard on them. The cast of villains includes opium smoking madams, several prostitutes and thugs and the mysteriuos Illyrian all of whom come to gether to present a formidable task to our family-man sleuth. Throughout the story runs the political themes as the outgoing Fourth cohort, headed by Brunnius, and the incoming Sixth, headed by Petro and Rubella each seek to claim a policing coup with the breaking of the gang. Add the rest of Marcus' family to the mix, including the first time appearance of Uncle Fulvius, with the entire Camillii family and you realise the Ostian gangs don't really stand a chance. By the end Falco has discovered what happened to Diocles, uncovered corruption at the highest level, and learned to float thus bringing a neat end to the story Davis' foray into the casebook style of the previous Accusers has swiftly gone and we're back to a style that is akin to classics such as `Ode to a Banker'. Marcus has moved on and Helena has to remind him that he is a family man now, but he still hurls himself into the adventures with aplomb and it remains a delightful read. For this reader, this latest installment is a hit and I would probably place it in my top five favourites of the Falco series. Long may they continue.