Parthian Shot by
David Wishart
hbk out March 04
Published by Hodder
at £18.99
Fans of Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus - or indeed of any mystery or thriller set in
Ancient Rome - won't be disappointed in "Parthian Shot". The Parthian Prince Phraates,
long resident in Rome, needs protection as the arrival of a delegation from Parthia
precipitates several violent incidents - not to mention a wealth of plotting, counter-plotting
and counter-counter-plotting. Parthians are odd folk, it seems, their customs and mores
very different from those of first century Rome; and as the latter are in turn somewhat
different from those of the 21st century, the Parthians seem strange indeed. With their rigid
society and a love of luxury they are a challenging group of people for the informal and
somewhat iconoclastic Marcus Corvinus to be dealing with, but predictably he is not in any
way fazed. What does give him cause for concern is the apparent involvement of an old
Roman enemy, the Emperor-in-waiting Gaius. Needless to say Marcus gets a handle on
exactly what is happening, somewhat to the dismay of certain of the counter-counter-
plotters (who in general turn out to be the good guys, though it's often hard to be sure of
this).
The C20 vernacular ("slaving over a red-hot abacus", "Jupiter on bloody skates") takes a
little getting used to at first, and is a matter of taste; some readers do find it off-putting.
However, given that we don't know exactly how the ordinary people of Ancient Rome
spoke on a casual day-to- day basis, and that they, like any other culture, must have had a
wealth of slang words and phrases, the language of Marcus Corvinus certainly
complements the character and genre well and should never deter anybody from enjoying
these books.
With David Wishart, we are plainly in the hands of an expert. He wears his scholarship
lightly, but it is very evident throughout the book in the extremely natural detail and
description of the life and politics of Ancient Rome
Parthian Shot by
David Wishart
