Pandora's Boy by Lindsey Davis

Pandora's Boy: A Flavia Albia Novel by Lindsey Davis --- 307 pages including maps, List of Characters, and Author's Afternote

Book Six in the series of historical mysteries featuring Flavia Albia, who has taken over her father’s business as an informer (private detective) in First Century CE Rome.  Albia reluctantly agrees to look into the sudden demise of a privileged young girl after a night out with the brat pack of  her so-called friends.

Clodia's death has devastated her family. Her parents are divorcing, her grandmothers are making accusations against each other. Yet her friends  are indifferent, even callous. Meanwhile, there are rumors among the family's acquaintances and neighbors that the willful Clodia, pining for a young man who did not return her regard, had obtained a love potion from a local herbalist and witch, and that drinking this potion had caused her death. 

But Albia reasons that a love potion --- if there is one --- would have been intended for the young man, not for Clodia's own consumption. She becomes even more dubious when she learns that the object of Clodia's desire was in fact the much indulged grandson of the witch, Pandora --- and the heir to the boss of one of Rome's most powerful criminal gangs. Her investigation reveals the Rome of CE 89 to be a city sinking in a toxic stew of public corruption, private vice and gang violence, the poor desperate to survive, the privileged reeking with entitlement. 

The clear-eyed and skeptical Albia is equal to the task of sifting the sorry truth from this mass of human dross --- though sadly, not without other deaths along the say.

Another entertaining adventure embedded in a well-researched and accurate portrait of First Century Rome in the reign of Domitian. I have been a fan of Davis since my first encounter with Albia's father Falco in The Silver Pigs (1989).

Click HERE to read the review from Publishers Weekly.

Click HERE to read  the review from Kirkus Reviews.

Click HERE to read the review from the Bookbag (UK).

Click HERE to read the review from the Crime Reader (UK).

The Third Nero by Lindsey Davis

The Third Nero: A Flavia Albia Novel by Lindsey Davis --- 321 pages

The fifth novel in the Flavia Albia series of historical mysteries. Flavia Albia is the British-born, adopted daughter of Marcus Didius Falco (retired informer and hero of Davis' previous mystery series) and his wife the noble Helena Justina.  Both series are a delightful mix of intricate, historically based mysteries set in the Roman Empire of the Flavians 1st century A.D. and the classic hard-boiled detective genre.

In this latest adventure, set in the fall of 89 A.D., Flavia Albia's a beleaguered new bride. Her new husband, Titus Manlius Faustus, was struck by lightning during the wedding procession and is having a difficult recovery. The newlyweds are short of cash, and camped out in a house that's still being renovated, with few furnishings and even fewer servants.  So when an Imperial freedman from the Emperor Domitian's intelligence service shows up on her doorstep with a possible commission, she can't afford to turn down the work.

Domitian, who requires his subjects to refer to him as "Master and God," has just put down the Saturninus Revolt, and is hellbent on re-establishing his authority with a round of purges and executions.  After the fact, he wants proof that two provincial governors he has summarily executed were actually guilty of  something.  Flavia Albia is asked to interrogate their widows.

However the plot soon thickens.  In the 21 years since the last of the Julio-Claudian Emperors, the late, unlamented tyrant Nero, committed suicide rather than be tried for his crimes, rumors have persisted in the provinces of Asia that Nero did not die but disappeared, and will return to claim his throne once more. Two imposters have appeared in subsequent years and became figureheads for short-lived revolts. Now there are rumors that another false Nero has surfaced, and may already be hiding somewhere in the city, while traitors within the government, perhaps even within the Emperor's household, are conspiring with Rome's enemies to assassinate Domitian and put their puppet on the Imperial throne.

Soon Flavia Albia is thrust into the middle of this high stakes political intrigue, in which the winner takes all and the losers wind up dead in a ditch (if they're lucky). The Emperor Domitian is due home any day from his war in Dacia, and whoever gets to him first with a plausible story and evidence to back it up, will win the game. Flavia finds herself infiltrating the household of the Parthian embassy to Rome, negotiating with spies, dealing with the goon who runs the Emperor's interrogation and disposal unit, dodging assassins and elephants rampaging through the streets of Rome, and trying to reassure her fretful husband that she's not taking crazy chances.

Another great story from Davis.

Click HERE to read the review from Kirkus Reviews.

Click HERE to read the review from Publishers Weekly.

Click HERE to read the review from the Bookbag.

Click HERE to read the review from Crime Review.

The Graveyard of the Hesperides by Lindsey Davis

The Graveyard of the Hesperides: A Flavia Albia Novel by Lindsey Davis --- 325 pages

The fourth book in Davis' new series featuring Flavia Albia, the adopted daughter of private informer Marcus Didias Falco (the star of Davis' previous and very popular 20-volume series). 

Albia has been making her own way in the world, since the death of her first husband, as a private informer like her adopted father, Falco.  It's a precarious occupation for a man in 1st century Rome under the Flavian emperors, and even more precarious for a woman, but Albia is resourceful and determined to succeed. In the course of her work, over the three previous novels, she has become acquainted with the plebian aedile or magistrate, Tiberius Manlius Faustus, who has retained her to assist him in his investigative duties. Professional respect develops, over time, into a warmer personal regard, and Manlius has moved into Albia's apartment and into her heart. 

Now he wants a formal wedding ceremony to make their commitment public and official. Unnecessary says Albia, but she capitulates, since it means so much to Manlius, although she leaves all the arrangements to him. Manlius promptly enlists the assistance of Albia's younger sisters.  

To be fair, both Albia and Manlius have other things on their minds right now: Manlius has just taken over a construction company and is in the middle of renovating a seedy old bar, the Garden of the Hesperides, for its new owner. Then the construction crew unearths a jumble of human bones on the site, and work screeches to a halt. Manlius, as a magistrate, must pursue justice for the unknown victim. Albia is his investigator. She quickly learns of a longstanding rumor in the district that the previous owner of the Garden of the Hesperides (now dead) murdered a popular waitress, Rufia, and buried her in the courtyard of the bar to cover up his crime.  

Albia presumes that the bones are those of the long-missing Rufia, but further grim discoveries at the Garden of the Hesperides soon suggest there is much more to this tale than the neighbors are telling. 

This is really one of Davis' best efforts yet. Albia's wedding is a comedy of well-meant errors, contrasted with her persistence in unraveling a vicious crime.  And then there is the incredible pleasure of following  Albia as she navigates the streets and alleys of 1st century Rome during the reign of Domitian, allowing us to experience the daily life of ordinary people with a visceral immediacy. 

While it's not necessary to read the Falco series or the previous three Flavia Albia books (Ides of April, Enemies at Home, and Deadly Election) to enjoy this book, if you do enjoy it, I urge you to hunt up Davis' backlist. You will not be sorry!

Click HERE to read the review from the Historical Novel Society web site.

Click HERE to read the review from Kirkus; and HERE for the review from Publishers Weekly.

Click HERE for the review from the For Winter Nights blog.

Deadly Election: A Flavia Albia Mystery by Lindsey Davis --- 309 pages

The third volume in Davis's new series about Flavia Albia, the (adopted) daughter of Marcus Didius Falco and Helena Justina.

Domitian is Emperor and Marcus Didius Falco has retired to his house on the coast, keeping a discreet distance from the imperial intrigues in Rome. But Flavia Albia, his stubbornly independent adopted daughter, is set on pursuing Falco's former profession as a private informer in Rome.

Still recovering from a serious illness, Albia returns to the oppressive heat of the city in summer to find the employees left in charge of the family auction house have discovered a corpse stuffed inside a large chest, part of a consignment of household goods to be auctioned. Albia, as the only member of the family in Rome, must take charge. The sensible thing to do would be to dump the corpse; Albia of course, wants to know who he is, how he died, and why his body wound up in the chest.

Meanwhile, Albia's friend and sometime collaborator, the magistrate Tiberius Manlius Faustus, wants Albia to work with him on the election campaign of his childhood friend Sextus Vibius Marinus, one of a number of candidates seeking the post of aedile. Albia's job is to dig up dirt on Sextus's rivals, and she finds there is a lot of dirt to dig --- much of it due to the complicated shared family history among the candidates, including Sextus, whose wives and ex-wives are all sisters, the marriages engineered by their scheming mother. As Albia and Faustus untangle this web of malice and obsession, they piece together the identity of the corpse in the chest and why he died.

A new Lindsey Davis novel is always a treat for fans of historical fiction and colorful characters.

Click HERE to see the review in Publisher's Weekly.

Click HERE to see the review in Kirkus.



 

Enemies at Home by Lindsey Davis

Enemies at Home: A Flavia Albia Novel by Lindsey Davis --- 342 pages

This is Davis's second historical mystery set in Rome during the first century A.D., featuring Flavia Albia, the smart, strong-willed adopted daughter of Marcus Didius Falco and Helena Justina. Falco and Helena were the featured characters in Davis's previous best-selling series of Roman mysteries.

Now that her parents have retired to their villa on the coast and a life of well-earned leisure, Albia has taken up the job of private informer in her father's footsteps. In the first book of the new series, The Ides of April, Albia identified a serial killer committing murders during the Cerelia or harvest festival. In the course of that investigation she clashed with the plebian aedile, Tiberius Manlius Faustus. Although by the end of the case she and Faustus had come to respect each other's professional abilities, Albia reminds herself not to hope for a personal relationship with him. She would never be a suitable wife for a Roman with political ambitions.  

In this new story, which begins a few months later, Faustus hires Albia Flavia to assist him in investigating the murder of wealthy newlyweds Valerius Aviola and Mucia Lucilia, found strangled in their bed two days after their wedding. A valuable collection of silver serving pieces is missing, and the night porter is found beaten senseless at the open front door. Over a dozen other household slaves were in the house that night yet all swear that they saw and heard nothing out of the ordinary until they discovered the bodies the next morning.

Roman law is clear: when the head of a household is murdered, his slaves are immediately suspect. If no other killer is swiftly identified, then all of the household slaves are assumed guilty, tortured until they confess, and summarily executed.  Aviola's household slaves, knowing their fate, have fled to sanctuary in the Temple of Ceres.

Faustus has two choices: quickly prove someone else is the killer, or proceed with the execution of the slaves. Albia investigates Aviola's family and friends, and identifies several alternative suspects, but she's also certain the slaves know more than they are saying. Can she find the truth in time?

An intelligent, irreverent mystery set against a vivid portrait of life in Imperial Rome. Davis is currently working on a third novel featuring Flavia Albia. It's possible to read these new stories without knowing the twenty novels in the Marcus Didius Falco series, but if you enjoy Albia you will want to make the acquaintance of Falco. Read them in order, starting with The Silver Pigs.

Click HERE for another review of Enemies at Home.

Nemesis by Lindsey Davis

Nemesis: A Marcus Didius Falco Mystery by Lindsey Davis --- 342 pages

With this, the twentieth and final volume in her long running Marcus Didius Falco series, Lindsey Davis closes out the adventures of the wily informer and his indomitable wife Helena Justina.

In the summer of A.D 77, during the waning days of the Emperor Vespasian, Marcus and Helena have just suffered the twin blows of losing their newborn son and Marcus' rogue of a father on the same day.

The loss of the baby is devastating; but what Falco never expected was the shock of his father's death --- nor the surprise of discovering that Geminus died a wealthy man and that he left the bulk of that wealth to his long-estranged son. Falco's not sure he knows how to handle becoming a man of property and means, with two houses in Rome, a villa by the sea, a thriving business. It's a relief to throw himself into a new case, and immerse himself in somebody else's troubles besides his own.

A respectable and successful middle-aged couple who supplied statuary to his father have disappeared under mysterious and forboding circumstances. Both were last seen headed for a confrontation with their unsavory neighbors, a family of freedmen (former Imperial slaves) who live in the fever-ridden Pontine Marshes, and seem to spend most of their time brutalizing their wives and children, intimidating their neighbors, and terrorizing the surrounding countryside.

No one will do anything about them, because it seems the freedmen Claudii have friends in very high places protecting them from the consequences of their crimes. When a corpse discovered dumped in a burial ground near Rome turns out to be the husband of Falco's missing couple, Falco and his friend Petronius of the Vigiles believe they have a potential break in the case, but their enemy Anacrites, the Imperial Chief Spy, intervenes to take over the investigation. At first Falco and Helena think Anacrites is motivated by his usual spite and jealousy of Falco and Petro, but the animus runs much deeper. Falco is further alarmed when Anacrites begins harassing his sister Maia, Petro's wife, and making up to his volatile adopted daughter Albia. He and Petro continue to work the case, with covert assistance from Silvius, an agent of the Urban Cohort, who would like to score on Anacrites in the internal political intrigues of the Imperium.

In the end, with help from an unexpected source in his own household, Falco and Petro discover the truth about the Claudii and take the action necessary to protect their families from harm. A dramatic and satisfying conclusion to the series and a hint of what may be in store for the future.

The Ides of April by Lindsey Davis

The Ides of April: A Flavia Albia Mystery by Lindsey Davis --- 340 pages

Lindsey Davis, she who gifted us with Marcus Didius Falco and Helena Justina (rather like Nick and Nora in the Thin Man but set in Imperial Rome), has now embarked on a new series of Roman mysteries featuring their adopted daughter, Flavia Albia, beginning with The Ides of April. Falco, having inherited a fortune from his disruptible father Favonius, has retired from the informer trade. But his headstrong daughter, a twenty-eight year old widow, has taken it up, and using dad's old digs in Fountain Court as her office. The dour Domitian is now Emperor, the Cerelia Festival is about to begin, and a serial killer is on the loose in the Aventine. The murders at first seem random, but slowly Flavia Albia begins to tease out the method in the killer's madness. Davis' trademark colorful characters, wry humor, fast-paced action and period detail proves she is still at the top of her game.  

Master & God by Lindsey Davis

Master & God: A Novel of the Roman Empire by Lindsey Davis --- 452 pages

With her usual wry style and meticulous historical detail, Davis tackles the nightmare years of the tyrannical Emperor Domitian, last and unluckiest of the Flavian emperors, who ruled the Roman Empire from 80 to 96 A.D. and was assassinated by members of his own inner circle.

Domitian began his reign under suspicion of conniving in the death of his elder brother and popular predecessor, Titus. Consumed with suspicions and dire forebodings, Domitian trusted no one, saw enemies everywhere, and struck indiscriminately, ultimately turning even loyal friends into terrified foes, until his murder became a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Davis presents her story through the eyes of a high ranking Praetorian Guard, Gaius Vinius Clodianus, and his inamorata Flavia Lucilla, a freedwoman with her own connections at court. There are several tantalizing glimpses of minor characters who also happen to appear in Davis' popular Marcus Didio Falco mystery series, set in Rome during the prior reign of Domitian's father Vespasian.

 

Saturnalia: A Marcus Didius Falco Novel by Lindsey Davis

Saturnalia: A Marcus Didius Falco Novel by Lindsey Davis --- 324 pages

It's 76 A.D. and Marcus Didius Falco, an informer (the Roman Empire's version of a private investigator) and his wife and sleuthing partner Helena Justina, are in the midst of preparations for the family parties to celebrate the festival of Saturnalia. Against the backdrop of the festival of misrule, Falco is summoned once again to hush up a scandal threatening to embarrass the Emperor Vespasian's government.

A state prisoner has escaped from custody and must be recaptured before the end of the festival season --- but no one can officially acknowledge the prisoner is missing, which complicates Falco's search no end. The prisoner is a German tribal priestess and seer who fomented rebellion against Roman rule among the Germanic tribes. The Roman governor who finally captured her has brought her to Rome to be paraded and ritually sacrificed in his official Triumph. But the Triumph can't be held until after Saturnalia, so Veleda was confined under the watchful eye of a Roman Senator. Unfortunately, she not only managed to escape without a trace from the Senator's house, but she left in her wake the decapitated body of the Senator's noble brother-in-law.

To make matters even more complicated, Falco owes his life to Veleda. Years earlier, on another Imperial commission, Falco was sent to broker a truce with the priestess in her forest stronghold. He and his companions only escaped with their lives when Veleda allowed them to"steal" a boat and make their get away in the middle of the night. It was Helena's handsome young brother Camillus Justinus, one of Falco's companions, who persuaded the priestess to let them go. Just how Justinus accomplished this is something that Falco has never wanted to know --- but now Justinus has quarreled with his wealthy wife Claudia and vanished from his home --- and Falco suspects Justinus is preparing to throw away family, fortune and future in a heroic gesture to rescue Veleda.

Can Falco and Helena Justina find the elusive priestess and persuade her to surrender, exonerate her from the accusation of murder, stave off her execution as an enemy of Rome, hush up the scandal and appease the Emperor, prevent Camillus Justinus from wrecking his life, discover who is murdering runaway slaves, AND survive the obligatory Saturnalia family dinner parties? They have two whole weeks to get the job done, after all!