Series: Marcus Didius Falco #5

 

Falco returns to Rome, gets mired in some old scheme of his dead brother’s, and is accused of a centurion’s murder. Shenanigans ensue.

 

Overall this was a fun read, although what happens with the Poseidon statue is a bit of a disappointment. I can’t say I approve of Falco’s rough interrogation techniques, however. Dealing with Falco’s extended family was amusing.

Rome in 70AD, and Marcus Didius Falco, informer/private eye finds himself caught up in an investigation that reaches to some of the highest people in the empire.

Told in a slightly tongue in cheek manner, this tries to be a Chandler-esque PI story set in the days of Romes ever expanding empire. For the most part it succeeds. The main character is suitably hang-dog in outlook; there's a good selection of high and low-lifes who'd prefer him not to be in their way, and naturally there are femmes fatales to move the plot along.

It was an enjoyable read, with good characters and a plot that kept the story moving along. You get some of Falco's back story to explain how he got where he is now.

Series: Marcus Didius Falco #4

 

Falco is sent by Titus Caesar to Moguntiacum in Roman Germany to deliver an iron hand (it's a sculpture) to the Fourteenth as a sign of the emperor's favour. He's also tasked with finding Munius Lupercus who was captured and sent to the witch priestess Veleda and finding the rebel leader Julius Civilis. Veleda apparently lives in the forest in Germania Libera, so he'll be behind enemy lines, so to speak, as well.

 

I had a lot of fun with this one. It's basically a Roman gumshoe story through the wilds of untamed German forests although it starts out as gathering background information in Moguntiacum and its surroundings. It takes a while for the forest to feature in the story but there were some rather creepy scenes in the Teutoberg forest where Falco and his companions stumble across an abandoned Roman camp and find themselves in the middle of a sacred grove complete with human bones. A couple murders are even solved although they don't feature as a central focus of the story. I really liked Helena Justina's brother Quintus Camillus Justinus in this too. And his dog (an excitable puppy who gets taken along with them through the forest).

 

I read this for the "In the dark, dark woods" square of the Halloween Bingo. I've decided that it fits because of the travel through the Teutoberg forest to find Veleda and for the creepy scenes mentioned above. There's also forest around Moguntiacum although it doesn't feature in the actual plot so much. The book could also fit the "Terrifying Women" square and maybe the "Amateur Sleuth" square although as an informer Falso is basically a private detective hired by the emperor (or his son, technically).

 

 

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Falco has gone off into the uncivilized (non-Roman-controlled) regions of Germany to try to speak with a witch/priestess who apparently lives in a forest, as well as to try to find a German rebel leader. They're leaving marshland and heading into the forest.

Next day we began to encounter stretches of light woodland, and at nightfall we hit the real edge of the forest. From now on we would need all our skills to find paths and keep to the right direction. From here the tree cover continued unbroken across the whole of Europe.

This counts as a forest for the "In the dark, dark woods" square, right?

‘What are the chances rebellion will flare again among the tribes?’ Juvenalis did not regard it as a function of his appointment to give political briefings, so I let myself speculate: ‘It’s the old joke still. If a Greek, a Roman and a Celt are shipwrecked on a desert island, the Greek will start a philosophy school, the Roman will nail up a rota – and the Celt will start a fight.’ He glared at me suspiciously; even as a joke it was too metaphysical.