See Delphi and Die (Marcus Didius Falco Series #17)

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More About This Book

Overview

It's A.D. 76 during the reign of Vespasian, and Marcus Didius Falco, a Roman "informer," has achieved much in his life. He's joined the equestrian rank, allowing him to marry Helena Justina, the Senator's beloved daughter. But now he's just been hired to undergo a dangerous mission: to pry his brother-in-law Aulus, a scholar on the way to study in Athens, away from a murder investigation involving two dead women at the ancient site of the Olympic Games. Traveling to Greece under the guise of being tourists, Falco and Helena visit the country's classic sites in order to investigate the suspicious goings-on and shady dealings of Seven Sights, a fly-by-night travel agency. What begins as a risky expedition becomes sinister when Aulus, too, goes missing in what becomes Falco's most complex and high-stakes case yet.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly
In Davis's engaging 17th ancient Roman historical to feature "informer" Marcus Didius Falco (after 2004's Scandal Takes a Holiday), Falco takes his deductive powers to Greece, where two young women tourists have died under mysterious circumstances. Accompanied by a large entourage, including his independent and sharp-witted wife, Helena, Falco soon finds that one tour, promoted by the shady Seven Sights Travel outfit, has a suspiciously high mortality rate. The long trail of corpses Falco uncovers puts the sleuth in danger of running out of suspects. While the way Falco unmasks the killer may be less than ingenious, the author's vivid picture of life in A.D. 76 and the sparkling characterizations, particularly the amusing byplay between Falco and Helena, will satisfy most readers. For those new to this popular series, which has a new publisher, Davis provides a short introduction to Falco and his world. (June) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
Murder at the ancient Olympic Games. In a.d. 76, that experienced informant Marcus Didius Falco is asked to probe the sad and unexplained death of Marcella Caesius, the beloved only daughter of wealthy widower Caesius Secundus. Marcella disappeared during a sightseeing tour at the Olympics three years ago. After a fruitless investigation and a good bit of time, her body has been found. But this is no consolation to her bereft father. With the 214th Olympic Games coming up, Falco takes an entourage, including his shrewd wife, Helena, and his rambunctious nephews Gaius and Cornelius, to investigate. Another young woman, Valeria Ventidia, has also died on a sightseeing expedition, though under violent circumstances. So taking the tour with Seven Sights Travel seems a logical starting point for the investigation. It also allows Davis to fold in lots of interesting historical detail. The party climbs the Acropolis, visits the oracle at Delphi and gets a close-up look at athletes preparing. (Maybe too close-up: There's a narrow getaway from some rabid wrestlers.) When Falco is sidetracked by local attractions, Helena presses to keep the investigation moving. Gaius and Cornelius turn up missing on the way to a bittersweet solution that's a tribute to the complexity and depth of this series. Falco's 17th case is as elegant and intelligent as any of its predecessors (Scandal Takes a Holiday, 2005, etc.).

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780312357757
  • Publisher: St. Martin's Press
  • Publication date: 5/28/2007
  • Format: Mass Market Paperback
  • Edition description: First Edition
  • Pages: 384
  • Sales rank: 452,164
  • Series: Marcus Didius Falco Series , #17
  • Product dimensions: 4.27 (w) x 6.67 (h) x 1.04 (d)

Meet the Author

Lindsey Davis was born and raised in Birmingham, England. After taking an English degree at Oxford and working for the civil service for thirteen years, she “ran away to be a writer.” Her internationally bestselling novels featuring ancient Roman detective Marcus Didius Falco include Venus in Copper, The Iron Hand of Mars, Nemesis and Alexandria. She is also the author of Rebels and Traitors, set during the English Civil War. Davis is the recipient of the Crime Writers’ Association Cartier Diamond Dagger Award, the highest accolade for crime writers, as well as the Ellis Peters Historical Dagger Award and the Authors' Club Best First Novel award.

Read an Excerpt

Chapter One

'Marcus, you must help me!'

I am a private informer, a simple man. I was stunned by this dramatic plea. My silk-clad, scented mother-in-law rarely needed anything from me. Suddenly the noble Julia Justa sounded like one of my clients.

All I wanted that evening was a better dinner than I could expect at home, where - not for the first time - I had made a bad mistake in buying a cook. Julia Justa had already enjoyed herself that night reviewing my dismal record in acquiring household slaves. In return for the dinner I would also have to put up with barbed comments about the failings of Helena and me as parents. Helena would retaliate, while her father and I grinned behind our hands until both women rounded on us, after which the slaves would carry in dessert and we would all fall on the quinces and figs . . .

Family life. I knew where I stood with that. It was better than the old days, when I worked alone from a two-room doss where even the gecko had sneered at me. There, the women who had sought me out were two ranks and many degrees of politeness below my mother-in-law. Their pleas were dismal and they needed help for filthy reasons. What they offered in return went far beyond the grudging thanks I would expect here, though it rarely involved money.

'I am, of course, at your disposal, dear Julia.'

The senator grinned. 'Not too busy at the moment?'

'Surprisingly quiet,' I told him. 'I'm waiting for the normal rash of divorces when couples come back to Rome after the holidays.'

'Cynic, Marcus! What is the matter, mother?' Helena sized up a platter of fruit; she was looking for a piece to give to our elder daughter. Favonia, our youngest, was happy to spend half an hour sucking a single grape but little Julia, left to herself, would take a bite out of every peach and pear, then surreptitiously put each one back on the dish.

'Everything is the matter!' Julia Justa posed in a refined manner, yet several rows of pendant gold beads quivered among the fragrant folds of sage green silk on her bosom. Beside her on the couch, the senator moved away slightly, afraid that she might bruise him with an angry elbow.

Helena now shot her father a brief glance as if she thought he was trouble-making. I enjoyed watching the interplay. Like most families, the Camilli had established myths about themselves: that the senator was constantly harassed and that his wife was allowed no influence at home, for example. The legend that their three children were a constant trial held most truth, although both Helena and her younger brother Justinus had settled down, with partners and offspring. Not that I made a reassuring husband.

It was the elder son, Julia Justa's favourite, who had caused her current anguish. 'I am devastated, Marcus! I thought Aulus was doing something sensible at last.'

At twenty-seven, Aulus Camillus Aelianus was still a happy bachelor who had lost interest in entering the Senate. He was feckless and rootless. He spent too much; he drank; he stayed out late; he probably womanised, though he had managed to keep that quiet. Worst of all, he sometimes worked for me. Being an informer was a rough trade for a senator's son; well Hades, it was rough for me, and I was slum-born. The Camilli were struggling socially; a scandal would finish them.

'He agreed to go to Athens!' his mother raved, while the rest of us listened. To everyone's surprise, attending university had been his own choice - the only hope of it working. 'It was a solution. We sent him so he could study, to develop his mind, to mature -'

'You cannot have heard from him already?' It was only a few weeks since we waved off Aulus on a ship for Greece. That was in August. His mother had fretted that it would be months before he bothered to write home; his father had joked that that would be as soon as the letters of credit ran out, when Aulus scribbled the traditional plea of 'Safely arrived - Send more cash immediately!' The senator had warned him that there was no more cash; still, Aulus knew he was his mother's pet. He would write to Julia and she would work on Decimus.

Now we learned that Aulus had let himself be sidetracked and, oddly for an intelligent fellow, he had owned up to his mama. 'Marcus, the damn ship stopped at Olympia. Of course I don't mind Aulus visiting the sanctuary of Zeus, but he's up to something else entirely -'

'So what is the big draw? Apart from sun, sport, and avoiding serious study?'

'Don't tease me, Marcus.'

I tried to remember whether they had held Olympic Games this year. Nero famously altered the centuries-old timing, so the mad emperor could compete in events during his tour of Greece. Unforgettable and embarrassing: a catalogue of pretending to be a herald, giving dreary recitals, and expecting to win everything, whether he was any good or not.

I fancied the date had now been altered back. By my rapid calculation the next Games would be next August. 'Relax, Julia. Aulus can't be wasting time as a spectator.'

Julia Justa shuddered. 'No; it's worse. Apparently he met a group of people and one of them had been horribly killed.'

'Oh?' I managed to keep my voice neutral, though Helena looked up from mopping juice from Favonia's white tunic.

'Well, Marcus,' Julia Justa said darkly, as if this was clearly my fault. 'It is just the kind of situation you taught him to get excited about.' I tried to look innocent. 'Aulus is suspicious because it is very well known that another young girl from Rome vanished at the last Olympic Games. And she was eventually found murdered too.'

'Aulus is trying to help these people?'

'It's not for him to involve himself -' I saw it all now. My task was to take over and steer young Aulus back on his way to university. The noble Julia was so eager to have him with his nose in a law scroll, she was ready to sell her jewellery. 'I will pay your fare to Greece, Marcus. But you must agree to go and sort this out!'

Copyright © 2005 by Lindsey Davis. All rights reserved.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted May 6, 2010

    Loved it!

    I love this series and this author. Lots of new twists. It was fun to read and I recommend it.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 14, 2009

    I Also Recommend:

    9780446606806 9780446693295 9780446691703

    Another Wonderful Falco Mystery

    I love historical mysteries that have been well researched, but my favorites will always be those that include a good deal of comic relief, as all the Falco mysteries do. Once you read any of them, you are tempted to read them all, and reading them from first to last published is a particular treat. I highly recommend them.

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  • Posted March 23, 2009

    If Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot were Ancient Romans...

    This is a fun read if you like "whodunnits". The reader travels quickly and easily through well known ancient Roman and Greek sites while trying to solve a murder mystery. What could be more fun?

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Posted December 9, 2008

    more from this reviewer

    Excellent Ancient Rome (and now Greece) investigation

    In 76 A.D. widower Caesius Secundus hires informer Marcus Didius Falco to investigate the unsolved murder of his beloved daughter Marcella Caesius. She vanished while attending the 213th Olympic competition three years ago before her corpse was finally found. Officials assume the cold case will never be solved. --- With the Olympic Games starting soon, Falco figures that is the best place to learn who abducted Marcella so he arranges a trip to Greece to attend the gala and begin his investigation. He takes his wife Helena with him, but leaves their young daughters (Julia and Favonia) with their grandmother Falco also recruits his nephews Gaius and Cornelius, Albia the Brit, and Young Glaucus son of a trainer. Falco quickly learns that another young woman, Valeria Ventidia, violently died on a sightseeing expedition sponsored by the same party that Marcella went with, Seven Sights Travel. So he joins their tour as he thinks let the games begin. --- The seventeenth Falco Ancient Rome (and now Greece) investigation is a terrific entry that uses the case to provide readers an incredible tour (Olympia is the fifth stop). Long time fans will appreciate the clever hero who still get distracted too easily and his brilliant wife who insures they stay focused. The inquiry turns personal when suddenly Gaius and Cornelius vanish in this wonderful whodunit that is part mystery and part historical novel and all entertainment with quite a final twist. --- Harriet Klausner

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    Posted June 10, 2011

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    Posted August 24, 2009

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