Flavia Albia can be just as snarky as Falco…
Sometimes I feel as if I’ve been hitting life’s milestones right along with Lindsey Davis’ original “informer”, Marcus Didius Falco, who seemed to be about the same age as I was when I first started reading that series. And now Falco has a daughter, Flavia Albia, who has grown up and launched, with her own series – on roughly the same timeline as my own son. Who does not, however, have his own series! But it all still feels quite familiar: the snarkiness of the youngsters about the oldsters (“’Face it’, said Father, like the realist he had never been.”), the toddlers (“We had a small crisis when Gaius claimed that Lucius had swallowed the slingshot.”), the excellent communications between husband and wife (Flavia Albia’s list of “Points the most excellent Tiberius Manlius Faustus has unaccountably missed”), and more.
So reading the latest Flavia Albia mystery, Death on the Tiber, was quite comfortable in many ways: a suitably puzzling plot; snapshots of life in ancient Rome; moments of snorting laughter; and cameos by Falco, Helena Justina, Petro, and others. Yet it was also challenging in other (good) ways. Flavia Albia has more of a connection to the victim than usual, and her growth throughout the book as she deals with this, especially during the denouement, was rewarding to watch. (Apologies for the opacity – I’m trying to avoid a big spoiler…) And finally, Davis’ writing is as sharp as ever. So all-in-all, Death in the Tiber is another entry in the series that is well worth reading.
And my thanks to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the review copy.
Death on the Tiber is £0.99 in the UK right now. The links in the OP are still good.