Ode to a Banker [Hardcover]

Lindsey Davis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 30, 2001 | Series: Marcus Didius Falco Mysteries

When a wealthy Athenian banker is found gruesomely murdered, Marcus Didius Falco must scour the seedy streets of ancient Rome to hunt down the killer.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Marcus Didius Falco, Lindsey Davis's clever private informer, passes a hot Roman summer tracking down the killer of a Greek banker and publisher. Was the killer one of Aurelius Chrysippus's stable of writers, dissatisfied with the patron's lack of enthusiasm for his latest opus or resentful about the humiliating terms of his contract? Or was Chrysippus's bloody death connected to financial shenanigans at the Aurelian Bank? Commissioned to investigate the murder by his friend Petronius Longus, Falco finds himself in the middle of a case with clues that may lie in the fragments of a manuscript found at the murder scene--or maybe in the banking records someone seems willing to kill to keep secret. At the same time, Falco's sorting out a thorny family matter concerning his mother and his sister, both of whom seem inordinately fond of an imperial spy Falco has good reason to distrust. And if that's not enough, he's also being taken to the cleaners by the contractors his wife Helena Justina has engaged to renovate their new home.

As usual, Davis brings first century Rome to glorious life, and subtly drives home the striking parallels between ancient and contemporary business, politics, and family life. In the 12th book of in this increasingly popular series, she makes the most of every opportunity for satire and spins a lively yarn guaranteed to make the reader laugh out loud and clamor for more. Fortunately, there's a solid backlist to entertain readers encountering Falco for the first time (One Virgin Too Many, Two for the Lions). --Jane Adams

From Publishers Weekly

In Davis's 12th Marcus Didius Falco story (after 2000's One Virgin Too Many), the Roman informer, a sort of Columbo in a dirty toga, investigates a sensational murder connected to the worlds of poetry, publishing and banking. It's a good mystery and, as such, the reader doesn't suspect the perpetrator until all is gradually revealed, and then everything makes perfect sense. Unfortunately, unlike historical mystery author Steven Saylor, Davis deliberately makes his ancient Rome seem contemporary. Characters talk about man management and brandish the stylus and note tablet like a Palm -Pilot. On the other hand, the technology is true to period. Without benefit of forensic evidence and crime labs, Falco has to talk to people and rely on a few clues, such as a missing sea-nettle flan from the victim's lunch tray. Did the murderer really like nettle flans so much that he stopped to snack? Moreover, like sleuths from the dawn of civilization to the present day, Falco has to get on with solving the crime amid the distractions of work and various crises here, involving his father, his mother, his sister, his lover and even his dog, Nux (Latin for "worthless"). The Romans were great believers in what we've come to call family values; the antics of the ruling families aside, those standards were important to the average Roman, including Falco. In the end, we leave Marcus Didius Falco with a wine flagon and a good scroll to read. Given the society in which he lives, he probably won't be idle for long, much to his fans' delight.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Mysterious Press; 1st Printing edition (July 30, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0892967404
• ISBN-13: 978-0892967407
• Product Dimensions: 6.2 x 1.2 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #306,712 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lindsey Davis' Roman novels begin chronologically with The Course of Honour, the love story of the Emperor Vespasian and Antonia Caenis. Her bestselling mystery series features laid-back First Century detective Marcus Didius Falco and his partner Helena Justina, plus friends, relations, pets and bitter enemy the Chief Spy; there is a reader handboook, 'Falco: the Official Companion'. 'Master and God' set in the time of the Emperor Domitian, will be published in 2012. She has also written an epic novel of the English Civil War and Commonwelath, 'Rebels and Traitors'. Her books are translated into many languages and serialised on BBC Radio 4. Past Chair of the Crimewriters' Association and a Vice President of the Classical Association, she has won the CWA Ellis Peters Historical Dagger, the Dagger in the Library, and a Sherlock award for Falco as Best Comic Detective. She has also been awarded the Premio Colosseo for enhancing the image of Rome, and the CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger for lifetime achievement as a mystery writer.
She was born in Birmingham but now lives in London.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Maturing brilliantly, December 30, 2001

By 

ilmk "ilmk" (UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ode to a Banker (Hardcover)

If I were to review the Falco installments, Ode to a Banker would come very near the top of the list. Part of its charm is the subtle differences in Davis' writing. Rather than churning out the same old Falco reactions to everything right down to his meticulous interviewing technique she lends him an almost stressed and bored air to his `informing' this time.
It is far more realistic for it.
Look at Didius' situation: he is happily married with a screaming Julia Junilla and Sosia Favonia to appear, with his family leaning on him as the nominal paterfamilas. Everything has become so much more personal with Anacrites misguided courtship of Maia and bizarre relationship with Ma. If Falco were to remain his professional self in this novel it would simply be untenable.
So, we plunge once more into the murky underworld of Rome and come up against unscrupulous bankers (always it's the freedman with his fingers where they shouldn't be - very Nero-esque) and set against a literary backdrop. You can almost laugh at Davis satiricizing of authors (I wonder if there are some real authors out there that they are based on?) and the entire novel exudes petty bickering with a tired Falco finally yanking all the suspects together for his Agatha Christie-eque denouement.
I cannot fault this installment simply because Davis steps away from the formulaic Falcoisms that were appearnig (it was getting obvious to pinpoint the guilty parties in recent novels) and it came as a surprise to find out who the culprit was, especially given the punishment.
Read it, delight in it, but don't expect it to be anything like the Silver Pigs era, Falco has matured, become a little more world-weary and his informing reflects it and this installment is all the more better for it.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars another brilliant and engrossing Falco installment, July 13, 2001

By 

tregatt (Portland, Oregon) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ode to a Banker (Hardcover)

It's the summer of AD 74, and if you think that Marcus Didius Falco, private informer, and his partner in life, Helena Justina, are having a wonderful time, enjoying the joys of the warm weather, think again. To begin with, Falco' s estranged father's mistress has recently passed away, and Falco's father is not so quietly going to the dogs. And if that's not bad enough, it looks as if Falco's sister, Maia, is getting much to cosy with Falco's arch-enemy, Anacrites! (Falco's biggest fear is that he may end up with Anacrites as a brother-in-law, so he's been very careful not to broach the subject with his independently minded sister just in case she decides to marry Anacrites out of sheer bloody mindedness!) Add to that the fact that the builders that Helena hired to finish their new house seemed to have shambled off to who knows where, and the fact that in a moment of weakness Falco allowed himself to be inveigled into giving a poetry reading with Rutilius Gallicus (last seen sentencing Maia's husband to death in "Two For The Lions"), and you get the idea that it is not going to be a summer of wine and roses for Falco.

To begin with the poetry reading session gets out of hand, when first Domitian Caesar (the Emperor's younger son, who just happens to hate Falco) and his entourage turns up and makes a mess of the seating arrangements, and then Aurelius Chrysippus, a banker and publisher, more or less highjacks the whole show. Chrysippus later offers to publish Falco's work; however Chrysippus runs a vanity publishing outfit -- the authour pays for his work to b published. Falco is outraged at having been propositioned by a vanity outfit (what does it say of the caliber of his work?) and turns down Chrysippus's offer snappishly. Little does he realise that the next time he sees Chryippus, the banker/publisher will be dead, having been brutally and horrifically murdered in what looks like a frenzied attack of rage.

Petro, Falco's best friend, who just happens to be the vigile put in charge of investigating Chrysippus's death, blackmails Falco into investigating the crime for him. And in no time at all Falco is busily checking out alibis, chasing down suspects, and looking for clues, all in order to get at the truth of who murdered Chrysippus and why. Could it have been Chrysippus's nubile, young, trophy wife, Vibia, tired of being tied to a much older husband? Or could it be Chrsippus's ex-wife, Lysa, still bitter about her divorce? Certainly Chrysippus's good for nothing son, Diomedes, is a suspect. As well as the stable of writers and poets that Chrysippus exploited. However, Chrysippus's murder could also have something to do with the shady doings that his bank seems to be involved in. There are just so many avenues for Falco to explore...

"Ode To The Banker" is a really entertaining read. For the many fans of Lindsey Davis, be assured that this novel will be another great and engrossing read. For those who have yet to read any of the Falco murder mysteries, don't hesitate any longer -- this is a wonderful and enthralling series. It is not very often that you come across an authour who consistently combines a brilliantly crafted novel, with well portrayed and really eccentric characters, and a mystery plot that will keep you guessing till the very end. Add to that Lindsey Davis's talent for writing in a tongue-in-cheek manner -- the wry way in which she relates things and her humorous asides and observations are absolutely brilliant and have often had me in stitches -- and you have a really splendid series.

"Ode To The Banker" is another brilliant and successful installment in the Falco series, and should be on everyone's list for enjoyable summer reading.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Falco at home, March 5, 2004

By 

tertius3 (MI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ode to a Banker (Hardcover)

The series of Falco books is constructed from three parts. Ostensibly exotic and intricate mystery stories-murders investigated by Falco, an imperial freelance agent of Vespasian's early Roman empire (AD 69-79)-they also serve as tours of the various (mostly western) provinces, and as "behind the scene" introductions and evocations of Roman versions of things such as: mining (SILVER), travel, art business, retail, city policing, the games and animal hunts (LIONS), stagecraft (PALMYRA), construction, apartment and family life, the status of women, water supply (FOUNTAINS), and now publishing and banking (but neither politics nor the army). Unlike the Ciceronian books of the Late Republic written by Steven Saylor, Davis' stories don't seem to hew close to actual ancient Roman law cases, but formulate what might have been typical middle class crimes that seem of reasonable cause to a modern reader. The dialogue can be English slangy modern without a tang of old Latin, but there's no need for footnotes or glossary either. (If you miss them then you can find a lot of pertinant background information in the glossaries of Colleen McCullough's Caesar books.) Davis seems to capture the roistering, tireless, scheming, and fouled essence of ancient Roman city life.

The wise-cracking, sceptical Falco and his so smart Helena are Davis's own splendid "modern" creations. Their repartee is usually spritely and intelligent-not because Davis is being politically correct but because they are partners in an alliance of man and woman unusual for Rome, yet serving to move the plot forward when a case is at impass. Davis (and Falco) are cynics in all things, but classically so, entertaining rather than mean. No one ages fast in this series; for example, this 12th book covers only one month in summer, AD 74, and Falco is only a prime 33 despite his many adventures.

Although I've said the Falco stories that stay close to Rome are the best ones, this sticks TOO close to downtown. ODE features a tight coterie of bankers, publishers, and authors (including Falco as a poet!). The claustrophobic atmosphere, the innumerable puzzling suspects, the dogged police interrogations, and the climactic confrontation in the concluding chapters a la Poirot reminds me strongly of an inelegant Agatha Christie closed-room mystery, not at all my favorite sort. Each recent volume includes more and more of Falco's domestic relations, disputes, and family love interests-a theme that almost eclipses the mystery here and is continued in the next volume, A BODY IN THE BATHHOUSE.