Saturnalia

The bacchanalian festival of Saturnalia in ancient Rome provides the context for this mystery featuring the capable plebian sleuth Marcus Didius Falco. Several calamitous events precipitate Falco's latest investigation, starting with the escape of a beautiful barbarian priestess from house arrest and the beheading of a young man. With Falco's extended family and in-laws providing comic interludes, the mystery becomes more convoluted as our hero delves further into the clues. Christian Rodska manages a multitude of characters, developing his centurions, slaves, beggars, and ladies-in- waiting with distinction and contrast. He conveys the various social classes with ease and does a particularly competent job of projecting the ironic tone the story often demands. M.H.N. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

March 19, 2007
As the festive holiday of Saturnalia approaches in Davis's well-crafted 18th Roman historical (after 2006's See Delphi and Die
), informer Marcus Didius Falco receives an imperial commission from Emperor Vespasian to solve the murder of nobleman Sextus Gratianus Scaeva. The victim's brother-in-law was holding a valued captive, Veleda, a female German rebel leader who had caused plenty of problems for the Roman Empire. She somehow escaped at the same time the crime occurred, becoming the prime suspect in the process. Unconvinced that the mystery can be wrapped up neatly with the capture of the fugitive, Falco, aided as always by his astute and independent wife, Helena Justina, pursues other leads even as he hopes to find Veleda and prevent further political turmoil. The occasional anachronistic colloquial phrase jars a bit, but overall Davis does her usual sound job of bringing first-century Rome to life.