Series: Marcus Didius Falco
by Author Lindsey Davis
The Accusers (2004)
Every time I start reading one of the books in this series I think. " not as good as the last one" and then, before I know it I am completely caught up in the story staying up late to read just a few more pages and throughly enjoying myself. I like the way Marcus has developed over the years. In ...
Ode to a Banker (2002)
Yes, it’s that time again when I dip into the colourful world of Lindsey Davis’ 1st century Roman informer (Private Detective) Marcus Didius Falco, his high-class wife Helena Justina and their growing family as Falco seeks to move up a class and gain some credibility and standing. This is number ...
Time to Depart (1998)
This series reminds me of Robert B. Parker's "Spenser" series in that Marcus Didius Falco is such a wise guy like Spenser and his best friend, Petronius,is the strong silent type like Hawk.In this entry, Falco and his live-in Girl friend Helena have just returned to Rome in time for Falco to witn...
The Iron Hand of Mars (1994)
Of all of the Falco novels, this one turned out to be one of my favorites, probably because it included more military adventures than other Falco books and swordplay.This tale of intrigue is set in Germania where Falco, Vespasian's agent, is tasked with attempting to derail a rebellion led by the...
Shadows in Bronze (1992)
Have you ever been to a movie that had one or two twists too many? Have you ever thought, “This chase scene was placed here either to extend the running length of the film or to provide something recognizable for the video game?” That’s the way I feel about Shadows in Bronze. Don’t get me wrong. ...
Last Act in Palmyra (1997)
This is the first Lindsay Davis novel which has disappointed me. My indifference to Last Act in Palmyra may be more my problem than the author’s. Ironically, it is the very nature of the “realism” in the book that seems to have removed my “suspension of disbelief” for the story. I realize it is s...
Venus in Copper (1993)
I swear I’ve read some of these before, but they’re the type of books that are made of the same mould. Marcus Didius Falco is a “private informer” in the first-century Roman empire. Recently back from a stint in Britain on the emperor’s business, Falco finds himself in jail for crossing the emper...
Scandal Takes a Holiday (2006)
Marcus Didius Falco and family (just about everyone related to him) are in Ostia, Rome's busy port city. Falco is searching for the missing scribe, Diocles, who happens to write the gossip column for one of Rome's "newspapers." He of course, eventually finds the missing scribe, but not before enc...
One Virgin Too Many (2001)
It has been almost two years since I read the previous book in the series so I am certainly overdue! One Virgin Too Many is the eleventh book in Davis' celebrated Falco series about a retired legionary setting himself up as a private detective in Vespasian's Rome. The series is funny, educational...
Saturnalia (2007)
This is the 18th installment in the Marcus Didius Falco mystery series but the first I ever read. The narrator/detective hero is an investigator who often works for the Emperor or other important figures in imperial Rome. The time is 76 A.D., so the emperor is Vespasian, and their December holi...
Two for the Lions (2000)
Two for the Lions sees Marcus partnering up with his old nemesis Anacrites as Census fraud investigators. Anacrites (who had tried to arrange for our hero’s death in Last Act in Palmyra) attracted the sympathy of Falco’s ma when he received a severe knock on the head in A Dying Light in Corduba. ...
Poseidon's Gold (1995)
After the disappointing 4th in the series, this 5th is a real treat. It's 72 A.D. and Marcus Didius Falco and his love Helena Justina have just returned to Rome from a long six months mission commissioned by Emperor Vespasian. He finds his "home" and possessions ransacked by squatters. Falco t...
A Dying Light in Corduba (1999)
C1996. FWFTB: olive, fatherhood, dancer, investigation, Baetica. The 8th outing of Falco the Informer. Nothing has really changed for Falco other than Helena’s pregnancy. He has still not managed to climb up the class ladder and he remains at odds with the hierarchy in general.I didn’t seem to en...
The Silver Pigs (2006)
I read some series like River Song travels with the Doctor: out of order. I’ve dipped and dallied with various books in the Falco series, but most recently I read Venus in Copper before going back to the source, Falco #1: The Silver Pigs. Here we meet Lindsey Davis’ private eye: Marcus Didius F...
A Body in the Bathhouse (2009)
Marcus Didius Falco is quite exasperated. Not only has he just become a father for the second time, he is also overseeing the renovation of his future home, and on top of that, he is involved in a remake of his father's house. He is especially cross about Gloccus and Cotta, two incredibly unrelia...
See Delphi and Die (2006)
The mystery portion of See Delphi and Die is essentially telegraphed fairly early in the narrative. Character is character and character will out. Yet, there are enough “red herrings” and unlikable characters throughout the novel that even when one senses the eventually exposed villain, the trip ...
Three Hands in the Fountain (1999)
In Three Hands in the Fountain, Marcus returns to Rome to find out that his longtime friend Petronius Longus has been thrown out of his home–his affair with Balbina Milvia (daughter of the mob boss our boys tracked down in Time to Depart) has become public knowledge and Arria Silvia can endure th...
The Jupiter Myth (2004)
Writers aren’t always kind to each other but Edith Pargeter, who wrote the best selling Brother Cadfael series of Mediaeval murder mysteries, said of one of Lindsey Davis’s early novels: 'Lindsey Davis continues her exploration of Vespasian's Rome and Marcus Didius Falco's Italy with the same wit...
Alexandria (2009)
Somehow, you get caught up in these Falco novels. From a reader perspective, he's likable, and gets trapped into the same sort of scrapes that you or I would (if we were a Roman era informer, that is). Over time he's acquired family, met up with old friends, and has been dumped on by dubious em...