Lindsey Davis

Page Updated: 18/05/00

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Lindsey Davis - Page 2

The Course of Honour

A Dying Light in Corduba

Time to Depart

Venus in Copper

Marcus Didius Falco: Curriculum Vitae

First British Edition Century (1997)

The Course of Honour
This is the love story of the Emperor Vespasian and his mistress, Antonia Caenis. Ancient Rome's most turbulent period - the reigns of Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero, and the Year of the Four Emperors - is encapsulated in this novel which tells the sweeping story of the ascendancy of the Emperor Vespasian, the impecunious son of a provincial senator who finally brought peace to Rome after years of strife. The story is seen through the eyes of Caenis, a woman slave working as a secretary for Antonia, Claudius' mother. She is a small footnote in the accounts of Roman historians, but here she is beautifully realised as the woman who exerted the greatest influence on the future Emperor.
As their strange and forbidden romance blossoms, Caenis finds herself involved in the discovery of Sejanus' plot against Tiberius, while Vespasian takes his first steps towards what she believes will be a glorious career. Years pass, yet they survive both prejudice and violent political events. Then Vespasian occupies a central role in the climactic struggle for power - bringing hope for Rome, but only despair for the woman who has loved him for so long.
"With the passing of Ellis Peters, the title Queen of the Historical Whodunnit is temporarily vacant. Lindsey Davis is well suited to assume it - and she is funnier than Peters... Davis' books make old Rome sound fun... it is so enjoyable" The Times

A Dying Light in Corduba
See Review by Val McDermid - Gold Dagger winner & creator of Lindsay Gordon, Kate Brannigan & Tony Hill
See Review by Val McDermid - Gold Dagger winner & creator of Lindsay Gordon, Kate Brannigan & Tony Hill
'The cast of characters are as various, corrupt, nasty and gnarled as the best of Dickens, described with similar scope and loving attention' Mail on Sunday

First British Edition Century (1995)

Time to Depart
See Review by Val McDermid - Gold Dagger winner & creator of Lindsay Gordon, Kate Brannigan & Tony Hill
Rome, AD '72. "I still can't believe I've put the bastard away for good!" Petro muttered. Petronius Longus, captain of the Aventine watch, and Marcus Didius Falco’s oldest friend, has finally nailed one of Rome's top criminals - Balbinus. But under Roman law citizens cannot be imprisoned; instead they are allowed 'time to depart' from the Empire to go into permanent exile.
One dark and gloomy dawn, Falco and Petro put the evil Balbinus aboard ship at the port of Ostia, thinking that this is the last they will ever hear of him. But soon the corpses start appearing - people who helped send Balbinus away. It is obvious that Balbinus has returned and that, once more, he is running his criminal organisation. Petro and Falco must descend into the underworld of Vespasian's Rome to get their man...
This is the seventh of Lindsey Davis' immensely popular and critically acclaimed series of novels featuring Ancient Rome's answer to Philip Marlowe, Marcus Didius Falco.
'Lindsey Davis is surely the natural heiress to Ellis Peters, and an original talent to boot.' Mike Ripley, Publishing News
'best of soap opera, violent thrills, pathos, bathos, exquisite scene-setting and humour' Frances Hergarty, The Mail on Sunday
'Non-stop action, excitement and astonishments - another real cracker' The Good Book Guide
'Here too is another carefully worked-out plot. All is neatly wrapped up...Time to Depart is a success. It is racy, untaxing and enjoyable read' The Times Literary Supplement

First British Edition Hutchinson (1991)

Venus in Copper
Working for the Palace was not all perks. Poor pay. Jealous colleagues. And now a small accounting error has left Marcus Didius Falco, Imperial Rome's most hard-done-by investigator, sharing a cell with a large rat . . .
Sprung from jail, Falco accepts a private commission helping a family of nouveaux riches freed slaves fend off a professional bride. This is more like it: two glamorous and vulgar clients, a fortune hunting red-head, and a good fat fee (for doing nothing much)!
But the perfect case soon turns up two fatal poisonings amid the dangerous world of rent racketeers. Odd characters beset Falco too: an astrologer whose overpriced predictions keep three accountants busy, a chef masquerading as a ruined Gallic prince, and a female contortionist who does shocking things with snakes.
Meanwhile, Falco is trying to find a new apartment and persuade his superior girlfriend Helena to join him - though she may not like sharing his latest mean abode with Chloe, a foul-mouthed feminist, parrot whom Falco hopes will provide a vital clue.
All this, plus the worry of how to cook Titus Caesar's giant turbot without a proper fish-kettle.
Praise for Lindsey Davis:
'Davis sports her scholarship with a difference; exploring a tumultuous ancient Rome with a delightfully modern eye to character and ear to dialogue' Sunday Times
"Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe in Ancient Rome - some of the best British crime novels coming out at the moment" Kaleidoscope
"A wonderful series of detective novels" The Good Book Guide
"Several cheers for Lindsey Davis ... Great fun" Phillipa Toomey, Times
"She brings imperial Rome to life" Ellis Peters
"Lindsey Davis is definitely on to a winner with Falco - her wry, witty Roman detective treading the mean streets of ancient Rome" Woman’s Realm
"Original and endearing... One can only hope that Marcus Didius Falco will be round for as long as Flashman" Time Out
"Wacky, romantic and audacious" Sunday Times
"Splendid... Mystery, pace, wit, fascinating scholarship and above all, two protagonists for whom I feel genuine affection" Ellis Peters
"Fast and funny... The author describes with gusto a recognisable pulsating Rome ... Lots of excitement" Mail on Sunday

Marcus Didius Falco: Curriculum Vitae
Family: Born AD41, Rome, Italy. Son of M. Didius Favonius (aka Geminus) and Junilla Tacita, one of seven children to survive to adulthood. Family of Plebian rank, father an auctioneer. Elder brother, M. Didius Festus, centurion in the legio XV Apollinaris, killed at Bethel, Judaea, in AD68; awarded the Palisaded Crown.
Marriage: From cAD71 lived as man and wife with Helena Justina, daugher of D. Camillus Verus, senator and friend of Vespasian. Daughter, Julia Junilla Laeitana, born AD73 in Barcino, Hispania Tarraconensis.
Career: cAD59 joined legio II Augusta, service in the ranks in Britain, including the Boudiccan Rebellion of AD61 (legion disgraced); during the pacification aftermath worked as a speculator until discharged apparently on medical grounds (though questions hang over this) cAD66. On return to Rome, worked as an informer to private clients; no details have survived. First recorded engagement as an imperial agent, Britain, AD70/71; also Magna Graecia and Campania, AD71; Germania and Germania Libera, AD71; Nabataea and Syria, AD72; Baetica and Tarraconensis, AD73; Tripolitania and Cyrenaļca, AD74. His ascendancy is thought to date from that year, following work for the Great Census, possibly due to the influence of Antonia Caenis, although she is known to have died in that period. He appears to have been awarded social advancement and is recorded as holding a procuratorial position at the Temple of Juno Moneta, conjecturally identified as associated with the Sacred Geese and the Augurs' Chickens (though this is contested on grounds of improbability). A period of relative prosperity appears to have followed, during which he may have dabbled with literary pursuits at the same time as he took up with the Camillus brothers, relatives of his wife; they were subsequently notorious for political intrigue.
Connections: Both Vespasian and Titus thought well of Falco and used him for missions where discretion was required. He does not appear to have benefited from his connection with Camillus Verus, perhaps due to family awkwardness, but formed friendships with influential members of the Flavian court, notably Julius Frontinus, governor of Britain and author of de Aquaeductu, and Rutilius Gallicus, who became Domitian's Chief of Police, and with whom he shared an interest in poetry.
Publications:(Fragments only) The Spook Who Spoke, a Plautine comedy, tentatively identified as the prototype for Hamlet, known to have been performed at Palmyra in AD72. Love poems (the Aglaia sequence) and bucolic eclogues have not survived. His Satires were deemed his best works by contemporaries, the best received being a contemplation on parrots addressed to his personal friend L. Petronius Longus. It may have been performed at Rome during a public reading that has been conjecturally identified in AD74 (? A joint recital with Gallicus in the Auditorium of Maecenas, sponsored by a patron who subsequently died in mysterious circumstances - though these circumstances seem unlikely)

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