Lindsey Davis
1) The accusers
Rome, AD 72. Falco returns home from a six-month mission to the German legions. But trouble is in store for him: his apartment has been wrecked by squatters, and an ex-legionary friend of his colorfully heroic brother Festus is demanding money, allegedly owed him as the result of one of Festus's wild schemes. Worse still, the only client Falco can get is his mother-who wants him to clear the family name.
Then, just as Falco thinks things can
The Silver Pigs is Lindsey Davis' classic novel, which introduced readers around the world to Marcus Didius Falco, a private informer with a knack for trouble, a tendency for bad luck, and a frequently inconvenient drive for justice.
When Marcus Didius Falco, a Roman "informer" who has a nose for trouble that's sharper than most, encounters Sosia Camillina in the Forum, he senses immediately all is not right with the pretty girl. She
It's the first century A.D. and Marcus Didius Falco, Ancient Rome's favorite son and sometime palace spy, has just been dealt a lousy blow from the gods: The beautiful, high-born Helena Justina has left him in the dust. So when the Emperor Vespasian calls upon him to investigate an act of treason, Falco is more than ready for a distraction. Disguised as an idle vacationer in the company of his best friend Petronius, Falco travels from the Isle
...Poor Marcus Didius Falco: The two shiftless contractors working on his new Roman bath house have left him with a horrible smell emanating from the below-ground furnace...and some gruesome site debris. Meanwhile, the king of the Atrebtes tribe in faraway Britain is planning...
For Falco, an attempt at relaxing while visiting his wife Helena’s relatives in Britain turns serious when a murder is discovered. King Togidubnus, the renegade henchman of Rome’s vital ally, has been stuffed head-first down a barroom well—leading to a tricky diplomatic situation which Falco...
Caged in frustration by having to work alongside the reptilian Chief Spy Anacrites, Marcus Didius Falco devises the perfect escape; become a tax collector in the "Great Census of A.D. 73". If his services are accepted by Vespasian and Titus, he may even rise high enough in the middle ranks to marry his long-suffering companion, Helena Justina. But a toothier job roars his way when the Empire's prized lion is mysteriously stabbed to death and Rome's
...Marcus Didius Falco, the cynical, hard-boiled investigator from the rough end of Rome, is back from a difficult mission in North Africa. As a result of his hard work, Emperor Vespasian awards Falco with the title of Procurator of Poultry for the Senate & People of Rome, or keeper of the city's sacred geese. Not much of a salary, of course, but the title does give him a better standing with his in-laws. Now, all Falco wants is to spend time relaxing
...Flavia Albia is the adopted daughter of Marcus Didius Falco and Helena Justina. From her mother, she learned how to blend in at all levels of society; from her father, she learned the tricks of their mutual professional trade. But her wits and (frequently) sharp tongue are hers alone.
Now, working as a private informer in Rome during the reign of Domitian, Flavia has taken over her father's old ramshackle digs at Fountain Court in the Surbura
...10) The third Nero
One of Marcus Didius Falco’s guiltier pleasures is reading the scandal column in the Daily Gazette, which is always conveniently found in Rome’s Forum. When the scandal column’s pseudonymous scribe Infamia goes missing in seaside...
12) Enemies at Home
"There are rules for private informers accepting a new case. Never take on clients who cannot pay you. Never do favors for friends. Don't work with relatives. If, like me, you are a woman, keep clear of men you find attractive."
"Will I never learn?"
In ancient Rome, the number of slaves was far greater than that of free citizens. As a result, often the people Romans feared most were the "enemies at home," the slaves under
...It's AD 76 during the reign of Vespasian, and Marcus Didius Falco has achieved much in his life. He has joined the equestrian rank, allowing him to marry Helena Justina, the woman he has been keeping time with for the past few years. But that doesn't mean all is quiet for Falco, Helena, and their two young daughters.
By trade he is an informer, a man who looks into sticky situations, and he has been hired to pry his errant brother-in-law
...14) Master and God
Lindsey Davis' Master and God is a vastly entertaining historical novel set in the reign of the Emperor Domitian in First Century Rome. It is, on the one hand, a love story between Gaius Vinius Clodianus, a valiant but reluctant member of the Praetorian Guard, whose military career is as successful as his marital history is disastrous, and Flavia Lucilla, daughter of a freed slave, and hairdresser to the ladies of the imperial household. A devastating
...15) Nemesis
In the high summer of 77 AD, Roman informer Marcus Didius Falco is beset by personal problems. A middle-aged couple who supplied statues to his father has disappeared. They had an old feud with a bunch of notorious freedmen, the Claudii, who terrorize the neighborhood. When a mutilated corpse turns up, Falco and his friend Petronius investigate. But just as they are making progress, the chief spy, Anacrites, snatches the case away. He makes false
...16) Deadly Election
In the first century AD, during Domitian's reign, Flavia Albia is ready for a short break from her family. So, in July, she returns to Rome, leaving them at their place on the coast. Albia, daughter of Marcus Didius Falco, who is now retired as private informer, has taken up her father's former profession, and it's time to get back to work. The first order of business, however, is the corpse found in a chest sent as part of a large lot to be sold
...17) Pandora's Boy
A suspicious death that leads to a murder sends Flavia Albia down a twisted path to expose corruption, betrayal, and gang activity bubbling under the calm exterior of one the best areas of Rome.
First-century Rome is not the quiet, orderly city that it pretends to be. and in this environment a very clever private informer can thrive. Flavia Albia, daughter of Marcus Didius Falco, is a chip off the old block. She has taken over his father's
...Lindsey Davis is the internationally bestselling author who "makes Rome live" (Washington Post Book World). Funny, astute, and hard-boiled, her series detective, Marcus Didius Falco, now ventures into a new arena, the publishing world of AD 74, to prove that ars longa, vita brevis—and murder is timeless.
Can a tough detective possess the soul of a poet? After a public reading brings him rousing applause, Falco receives
...In Rome, 89 A.D., poisonings, murders, and a bloody gang war of retribution breaks out during the festival of Saturnalia, and when her husband, Tiberius, becomes a target, it's time for Flavia Albia to take matters into her own hands—in Lindsey Davis's next historical mystery, A Comedy of Terrors.
Flavia Albia, daughter and successor of private informer Marcus Didius Falco is twiddling her thumbs with no clients during
In this eighth mystery featuring hard-boiled Roman PI Marcus Didius Falco, Davis creates a chiaroscuro world of evil plots and dark humor, as olive oil whets a villain's appetite for power and his taste for murder.
Surprisingly, nobody is poisoned at the Society of Olive Oil Producers banquet—the attempted murder of Rome's chief spy occurs immediately afterward. Suspicion falls, quick as the Italian night, on the dinner's sinuous dancer,
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