Category: Historical Fiction

  • REVIEW of See Delphi and Die & Saturnalia, by Lindsey Davis

    REVIEW of See Delphi and Die & Saturnalia, by Lindsey Davis

    Having fully indulged her hostility toward building contractors, lawyers, and newspapermen in the previous books, Lindsey Davis now takes the opportunity in See Delphi and Die to lampoon the travel industry. While Aulus, Helena Justina’s stuffy younger brother, is traveling to Athens to study law, he runs across a suspicious death in the city of Olympia. A…

  • REVIEW of Venetia, by Georgette Heyer

    Venetia Lanyon has never been out in London society, and at twenty-five years of age she is almost on the shelf. After the death of her mother, her reclusive father kept the family tethered to the country estate, and after the death of her father, the role of managing the estate fell upon Venetia–at least,…

  • REVIEW of The Accusers & Scandal Takes a Holiday, by Lindsey Davis

    I rarely give a book five stars. According to Goodreads terminology: one star – “didn’t like it” two stars – “it was ok” three stars – “liked it” four stars – “really liked it” five stars – “it was amazing” Frankly, there just aren’t that many books where you think, “That was amazing!” when you…

  • REVIEW of A Body in the Bathhouse & The Jupiter Myth, by Lindsey Davis

    Britain–the last place on earth that Marcus Didius Falco wants to visit. But when Emperor Vespasian asks him to conduct a cost analysis of a building site on the edge of the empire, our hero can hardly refuse. A Body in the Bathhouse shows the Didius family traveling en masse to the wilds of Britain:…

  • REVIEW of The Virgin Widow, by Anne O’Brien

    “This was my favorite read of the entire year.” I saw one reader comment just that about The Virgin Widow, at that time the next title in my to-read pile. High praise indeed, thought I, with a little bit of cynicism–slogging through The Other Boleyn Girl tends to jade your perspective on life. My one hope…

  • REVIEW of The Other Boleyn Girl, by Philippa Gregory

    I read my first Philippa Gregory a little less than a year ago. The title I chose was The Red Queen, the story of Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII. Those who read my post on this novel back in September will know that I found it underwhelming, to say the least. Checking in with…

  • REVIEW of The Convenient Marriage, by Georgette Heyer

    If you’re looking to read something unpredictable, Georgette Heyer books are not for you. Thirty-something-year-old former rake falls in love with young girl barely out of the schoolroom (or alternatively, with a spunky twenty-something-year-old “spinster”), and after many misunderstandings, much wearing of finery, probably some gambling over cards, perhaps a duel or two, and loads…

  • REVIEW of One Virgin Too Many, and Ode to a Banker, by Lindsey Davis

    Books 11 and 12 of the Marcus Didius Falco series continue to defy disappointment. In One Virgin Too Many, Vespasian rewards Marcus with middle class status at long last! Along with the new rank comes a new position, Procurator of the Sacred Poultry. The Didius family finds a source of endless laughter and derision as…

  • REVIEW of A Dying Light in Corduba, Three Hands in the Fountain, and Two for the Lions, by Lindsey Davis

    How many volumes can I cover in one review article? That is a question of prime importance when you’re as behind as I am on writing book reviews. For the past several weeks, all my writing time has been eaten up by Road from the West, my novel in progress. But now that the rough…

  • REVIEW of Poseidon’s Gold, Last Act in Palmyra, and Time to Depart, by Lindsey Davis

    Books five through seven in the Marcus Didius Falco series, by Lindsey Davis, continue to captivate my attention just as much as the previous four did. Once again, Lindsey Davis uses each novel to focus on a particular aspect of Roman society, providing a humorous narrator, a clever whodunit, and an unconventional love story to…