Alexandria
Lindsey Davis
Minotaur, May 12 2009, $24.95
ISBN: 0312379013
In 77 AD Rome, Marcus Didius Falco is an informer, a combination policeman and private eye who sometimes has as his client the Emperor Vespasian. However, it is not on the Emperor’s orders that he and his extended family are going to Alexandria. It is because his pregnant wife Helena Justina wants a vacation to see the Lighthouse and the Great Library. He is staying at the home of his Uncle Fulvius and his lover Cassius.
At dinner they meet the Librarian Thean, a good man who mumbles about disappearances he is helpless to prevent. The next day Thean is found dead in his office with the door locked from the outside. The autopsy proves he ingested poison from the flower leis Fulvius gave to all his guests. Falco is asked to investigate the Librarian’s death and he has to deal with the Director of the Museum, who officiates over the Library, Zoo and a few other noted departments. The people in contention to replace the deceased Librarian all have motives and each in addition to the Director is a nasty backstabber, but Falco believes one is literally a backstabber.
Nobody describes the Mediterranean region of the Ancient Roman era better than Lindsey Davis consistently does; her latest fabulous Falco whodunit brings to meticulous life Alexandria, a thriving city. Falco is at his best as an acerbic cynic suspecting everyone except perhaps Helena who assist him on his inquiry. The investigation is entertaining and cleverly devised so that fans of ancient era mysteries like those of Steven Saylor and John Maddox Roberts will relish Ms. Davis’ strong whodunit.
Harriet Klausner
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