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REVIEW of The Grove of the Caesars (Flavia Albia #8) by Lindsey Davis
When Flavia Albia’s aedile husband Tiberius goes out of town to attend on his dying sister, Albia is left with the mess of sorting out his construction company’s building projects and finding a serial killer in the gardens that Julius Caesar donated to the people over a century ago. Apparently some wretched pervert has been…
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REVIEW of Antonius: Son of Rome by Brook Allen
Son of a disgraced father, stepson of an executed conspirator, Marcus Antonius has an uphill battle to attain prestige in Rome. This coming-of-age story shows how the fervent youth becomes a spoiled teenager, squandering his patrimony on wine and women and becoming indebted to loan sharks to the tune of 200 talents (FWIW, that’s a…
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REVIEW of Prima Facie (Medicus Investigation #8.5) by Ruth Downie
When Ruso and his wife Tilla head home to the old farm in southern Gaul, they aren’t expecting to arrive in the middle of a family crisis. Little sister Flora’s boyfriend, a freeman and wheelwright, has been accused of murdering his aristocratic half-brother, and Flora is beside herself to rescue him from execution. Can Ruso…
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REVIEW of Feast of Sorrow: A Novel of Ancient Rome by Crystal King
Thrasius is the most valuable slave the market has ever seen. When the gourmand Apicius purchases him, the price is twenty thousand denarii. As a trained cook and crafter of recipes, Thrasius has the potential to make his owner famous, and that is what Apicius desires most of all. Thrasius finds an almost secure but…
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REVIEW of Death of an Eye by Dana Stabenow (Eye of Isis #1)
A young woman from ancient Alexandria, Tetisheri works in dealing luxuries and antiques with her merchant uncle. She also happens to be the lifelong friend of Cleopatra, a friend sorely needed in the dangerous world of Roman and Alexandrine politics. When Cleopatra asks Tetisheri to find some newly-minted currency that’s gone missing, Tetisheri cannot refuse.…
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REVIEW of Pandora’s Boy, by Lindsey Davis
Flavia Albia is hesitant to take a case recommended by her new husband’s ex-wife, but the death of fifteen-year-old Clodia is too intriguing to pass up. Along the way, her husband Tiberius goes undercover himself as the assistant of a lettuce shop whose products are renowned for their powers of fertility. Soon, Flavia’s investigation introduces her…
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REVIEW of The Ides of April, by Lindsey Davis
If you’ve followed this blog, you’ll know that I read (and reviewed) all twenty novels in Lindsey Davis’ Marcus Didius Falco series. I was seriously bummed that Nemesis was the last one, and I may have even named my third child Marcus after Falco…. Imagine my delight at discovering that she has written a spin-off…
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REVIEW of Defending Constantine, by Peter J. Leithart
The Emperor Constantine is one of those people who could very ably defend himself while alive, but now, having the misfortune of being dead, has become a whipping boy for church historians and theologians alike. In his book Defending Constantine: The Twilight of an Empire and the Dawn of Christendom, Peter Leithart attempts to wipe…
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REVIEW of The Course of Honor, by Lindsey Davis
After finishing all twenty of Lindsey Davis’ Falco novels, I’ve moved on to some of her other historical fiction. Yesterday’s rainy afternoon brought me to the end of The Course of Honor, an early novel by Davis. Vespasian, the miserly and curmudgeonly emperor who was in love with assigning Marcus Didius Falco thankless tasks, is…
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REVIEW of Alexandria & Nemesis, by Lindsey Davis
I’ve been putting off writing this post for quite some time because it marks a monumentally sad occasion. I have finished the Marcus Didius Falco series by Lindsey Davis–all twenty books. There are no more. Ms. Davis recalcitrantly refuses to add any more to the Falco canon–but then I suppose it is the author’s prerogative…
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