Status
Available
Series
Collection
Publication
London : Century, 2000.
Description
In the long, hot Roman summer of AD 74, Falco, private informer and spare-time poet, gives a reading for his family and friends. Things get out of hand as usual. The event is taken over by Aurelius Chrysippus, a wealthy Greek banker and patron to a group of struggling writers, who offers to publish Falco's work. A visit to the Chrysippus scriptorium implicates Falco in a gruesome literary murder, so when commissioned to investigate, Falco is forced to accept.Lindsey Davis's 12th novel wittily explores Roman publishing and banking, taking us from the jealousies of authorship and the mire of patronage to the darker financial world, where default can have fatal consequences ...
User reviews
LibraryThing member nolak
When Falco goes poetic, he is offered publication, but the publisher is murdered. Was it an angry writer, one of his customers in his banking business or someone in his family? The answers will take you on a romp through Roman oratory and banking, with a satisfactory ending.
LibraryThing member Tanya-dogearedcopy
This is the twelfth installment in the historical fiction series set in Rome during Vespasian's reign (70s AD.) Falco is a palace informer who acts as a sort of early prototype of a detective or investigator. Davies incorporates her research with a little bit of humor into her stories; and in this
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book she takes on the publishing and banking industries. These are cozies; but with togas, wine, spies, and vigiles instead of cats, tea cups or spinsters. Show Less
LibraryThing member cmbohn
Neat little critique of the publishing world. Some things haven't changed in 2000 years. Loved the sly humor. Falco took his time solving this case though, which I found a little unbelievable. But the ending was solid.
LibraryThing member wdwilson3
A middling installment in the Falco series, with fun insights in the Roman publishing and banking businesses and a Christie-like denouement with all the suspects in one room. Add to the mix the usual amount of Falco’s domestic distractions and you have the Lindsey Davis formula. Enjoyable, but
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not memorable. Show Less
LibraryThing member annbury
This has the old Falco flair and the ever-amusing Falco family, but the plot is less compelling than in many of the earlier works. Indeed, it sometimes seems a bit like a succession of shticks.
LibraryThing member NickHowes
In the 12th Falco novel, ancient Rome's private informer is hired by the vigils...who have better things to do...to investigate the murder of a publisher. The publisher, it seems, turns out to have been a banker, as well, which funded his publishing business. Plenty of suspects, many related to the
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victim, throw in a couple attacks by thugs and everyday life in crowded, seedy Rome, and you have a first-rate story by the award-winning Lindsay Davis. Even with all the British slang to confuse the issue. Show Less
LibraryThing member gypsysmom
I really like mysteries set in non-modern times because the sleuths can't rely on things like fingerprints or DNA to solve the crime.
In this one the detective Falco has to find out who murdered a wealthy banker/publisher while he was reading in his library. Although there are lots of possibilities
In this one the detective Falco has to find out who murdered a wealthy banker/publisher while he was reading in his library. Although there are lots of possibilities
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at the start they keep being winnowed down as alibis are checked and no bloodstained clothing appears. I like the fact that Falco relies on his wife, mother and sisters for as much help as his male friends and relatives. And the final uncovering is reminiscent of Hercule Poirot's methods, another favourite of mine. Show Less
LibraryThing member Vesper1931
Falco 12th mystery is set in the literacy world. Who killed the publisher/banker and why?
Subjects
Awards
Crime Writers' Association Awards (Shortlist — 2001)
Local notes
signed by author