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jacey
Ever since I heard one of the Falco books dramatized on Radio4's Book of the Week, I've wanted to get round to reading one of Linsey Davis's stories about Marcus Didius Falco, the Roman 'informer' – a detective in all but name. What better place to start than the first book, from 1989? Falco is a fabulous character, impoverished, but clever. He's thirty years old with an interfering mother and a recently deceased military brother (Didius Festus) who was the family's shining star. Falco knows he'll never measure up to his brother, so he goes his own way, living in a sixth floor apartment over Lenia's laundry and taking a variety of 'informing' jobs. This book kicks off when Falco rescues sixteen year old Sosia who was kidnapped from her uncle's house (Senator Decimus Camillus). This starts Falco on a track that takes him from Rome to British silver mines (working under cover and almost dying from the conditions). There's stolen silver, kidnapping, treachery and violence… and the senator's daughter, the acerbic Helena Justinia. Has Marcus met his match?
