Booklog 50/2024: Lindsey Davis: Shadows in Bronze: Marcus Didius Falco #2 – Audiobook

One of the early Falco mysteries, read by Gordon Griffin.

Falco’s girlfriend, Helena Justina’s late husband Pertinax, involved in an uprising against the Emperor, has been found strangled in his cell, but he might not be as late as believed. When Falco is sent by the Emperor Vespasian to clear Pertinax’s house and effects one thing leads to another. There’s a fire and a murder and Falco goes in search of Barnabus, Pertinax’s freedman. Falco is desperately in love with Helena, but she’s a senator’s daughter, way above Falco in rank. Their romance is threaded throughout the mystery. Sadly, Gordon Griffin is nowhere near as good a narrator as Christian Rodska was, or, indeed as good as Anton Lesser in the BBC radio dramatisations.

Booklog 51/2024: Lindsey Davis: Venus in Copper – Marcus Didius falco #3 – Aidiobook

Vespasian's chief Spy Anacrites, is trying to arrest Falco for the theft of lead, used as plot points in both of the first two Falco books. Yes, technically he did purloin the lead, but it was done in order to track down one of the Emperor Vespasian's enemies, and is more of an error in accounting. Trying to raise the money to raise his status to middle rank so he can marry his upper-crust girlfriend, Helena Justina, Falco takes on new clients. Once again, sadly, Gordon Griffin doesn't quite capture Falco's voice, so some of the quirkiness is lost.

Booklog 52/2024: Lindsey Davis: Poseidon’s Gold: Marcus Didius Falco #5 – Audiobook

Read by Gordon Griffin.
Falco’s deceased brother, Festus, seems to have left a debt that Falco and his family are being pressed to repay. A Roman legionary is murdered and Falco is accused. He has a couple of days to clear himself, find the real murderer, and discover just how deeply Festus was involved in a scam with a valuable statue thought lost at sea. As before, the narrator, Gordon Griffin, is not the best. Later books narrated by Christian Rodska are better.

Booklog 53/2024: Jodi Taylor: The Something Girl: Frogmorton Farm #2 – Audiobook

Jenny Checkland, now married to volatile and eccentric artist, Russell, and mother to baby Joy. Should be safely free of her grasping and cruel family. Her chaotic life with Russell, Boxer the nervous horse, Marylin the noisy donkey, a bunch of Patagonian Attack Chickens, a snooty neighbour, Bill the insurance man who is courting the Checklands' housekeeper, Mrs Crisp, and a magnificent golden horse called Thomas who smells of warm ginger biscuits, and whom no one but Jenny can see. And then Jenny's dangerous cousin Christopher turns up with malice and greed in his heart, helped by Jenny's eveil uncle. Quirky and engaging, this is nicely narrated by Lucy Price-Lewis