One Virgin Too Many by
Lindsey Davis
hbk out June 99
Published by Century
at £15.99
In her latest irreverent foray into that most Augustan world of ancient Rome and Romans Lindsey Davis has her likeable plebeian hero Marcus Didius Falco caught up in the intrigues and power struggles surrounding the Vestal Virgins and members of the ancient priesthoods of Rome. A pretty, apparently pampered young girl, arrives in a luxurious carrying chair at Falco's house, tiny feet in golden shoes, bracelets jangling, to attempt to engage his services as informer (private eye). She believes her family want to kill her. A new Vestal Virgin must be appointed and she is in line for the job. A corpse is discovered in the Sacred Grove of the Dea Dia, where the most ancient of the religious cults of Rome have gathered for a feast and celebration of fertility. The body is that of one of the Brothers. Falco must solve one crime and prevent another.
And Falco now has another job to keep him busy. He has, on his return from North Africa where he has worked on the Census, been rewarded by the Emperor Vespasian with the post of Procurator of Poultry. He is responsible for the welfare of the Sacred Geese who are kept in the Temple of Juno. Their ancestors, we learn, once saved Rome from marauding Gauls by honking when the guard dogs failed to bark. Now the pampered geese are carried on purple cushions in processions while unfortunate dogs are rounded up and ritually crucified. Falco feels he has drawn the short straw. He doesn't get much cash for his duties and doesn't think much of the fate of the hapless canines.
His own dog, Nux, still provides amusement with his excellently described antics. Helena, his patrician girl friend and mother of his dear little girl Julia Junilla, still commands respect with her self-confidence and independent attitude. In this book she has bought, without consulting Falco, a new house out of town, on the other side of the Tiber, on Janiculan Hill, with a view over Rome. Sounds lovely. But expensive repairs are necessary and there's the distance from town to consider.
The mystery storyline is only one of the pleasures in this, the 11th Falco novel by Lindsey Davis, recent winner of the Crime Writers Association Ellis Peters Historical Dagger Award for her contribution to historical crime fiction. Narrated by the charismatic hero Falco, his voice and expressions in modern idioms sit easily with the happenings in a thoroughly believable and doubtless authentic world of ancient Rome. The tone is light and humorous in spite of some of the cruel practices described. Place and character are vividly evoked. And there is a cliffhanger ending. Another winner.
One Virgin Too Many by
Lindsey Davis