Parthian Shot (Marcus Corvinus Mysteries) [Paperback]

David Wishart (Author)

Book Description

Series: Marcus Corvinus Mysteries | Publication Date: March 1, 2004

While conducting an investigation into an attack on the Parthian Prince Phraates, one of the Parthian delegation is murdered and a full diplomatic incident threatens. The byzantine twists and turns of the case give Corvinus a headache that rivals his customary hangover, and it takes a violent threat to his wife Perilla before he gets a grip on what’s really happening.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Ancient Rome's shrewdest and most sardonic detective ... the best balance of mystery and history yet.' -- Kirkus Reviews (US) 20040601 'more twists and turns than a roller coaster ... fast-paced and professional ... one of his strongest entries to date.' -- Historical Novels Review 20040601 'piles intrigue upon intrigue in a highly satisfying manner.' -- Sherlock 20040601

From the Publisher

If there’s one thing Marcus Corvinus hates more than doing the household accounts, it’s politics. So when he’s interrupted in the former to get involved in the latter, he’s not at all pleased. His brief is to conduct an unofficial investigation into an attack on the Parthian Prince Phraates, a task that taxes his meager diplomatic skills to the utmost. When the attack is followed by the murder of one of the Parthian delegation, a full diplomatic incident threatens. The byzantine twists and turns of the case give Corvinus a headache that rivals his customary hangover, and it takes a violent threat to his wife Perilla before he gets a grip on what’s really happening. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton (March 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0340827378
• ISBN-13: 978-0340827376
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,769,224 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Buy it, May 24, 2004

By 

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

This review is from: Parthian Shot (Marcus Corvinus Mysteries) (Hardcover)

I confess that when I saw the latest Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus mystery from David Wishart I didn't bother reading the jacket. Just picked it up, paid for it and located the nearest bench.
Never a mistake with a Corvinus mystery and so this one proved.
Marcus' twelfth adventure finds us in 35A.D in his house struggling with his accounts. The arrival of the consular Lucius Vitellius, described as a `homing hippo' and a subsequent trip to the Palatine to meet one Isidorus means that our wise-cracking sleuth finds himself on the receiving end of an assignment from no less than the Wart himself. The brief? To discover who has attempted to murder the sixty year old Roman backed heir to Great King of Parthia, Phraates.
After pacifing the lamprey dishing Meton and the ever bookish Perilla, Marcus prompts goes to a diplomatic dinner with Vitellius, hosted by Phraates for the Parthian delegation. There we meet a list of people all of whom have motivation: Osroes, the Magian - an anti-Greek Parthian, Zariades - an unctuous Parthian courtier, Callion - a Seleucid Greek, Peucestas - a military eunuch, Tiridates - Phraates son, and Mithridates - the particularly nasty younger brother of the King of Iberia and future King of Armenia.
Promptly making an enemy of Mithridates and causing a diplomatic incident, just to protect the virtue of a dancer, lands Marcus in immediate hot water ending up with a beating in a Tuscan Way alley. Still, with the reckless abandon and grim determination that marks our sleuthing hero he sets off into the Parthian underworld of Rome. Just as well as Zariades ends up with his throat cut. A body, but not the expected one.
Conversations with Phraates, investigations into The old Batchelors and Mano's, plus an ever growing threat from Mithradates means that Marcus has to put his family on the line again.
The mystery unfolds as Marcus moves from conversation to conversation, uncovering a web of deceit from his `paymasters' that infuriates him but reveals a lot about multiple motives and secret dealings in the Roman/Parthian underworld until he finally realises that the `murder' wasn't a murder at all.
Marcus rapidly escalates his way through Nicanor, pepper merchants, Parthian and Syrian spice trading, Ostian knife gangs, the Three Graces brothel and many more as he threatens, bribes and coaxes information out of everyone to reveal a plot so complex and clever that to guess the culprits and motives from the outset would be blind luck. Oh, and he solves the mystery of the missing lampreys and manages to put one over Meton, who comes across like a Roman Ramsey at times.
David Wishart has settled down with his irreverant Corvinus mysteries and anyone who likes the overly carefree Claudia Seferius of Marilyn Todd will finds an equally affable character in Corvinus whose straight talking, justice loving sleuth cuts through Rome with an alacrity that is hard to put down.
Buy it.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Okay, but not so hot, August 4, 2005

By 

J. Renaud "suburbanbeatnik" (Peachtree City, GA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Parthian Shot (Marcus Corvinus Mysteries) (Hardcover)

This book is better than anything written by Marilyn Todd, but truly, that's damning it with faint praise. The historical aspect about Parthia is fun to read, the plotting and intrigue is good, and there are some notably interesting characters- i.e. Prince Phraates, an aged but charming courtier who is jockeying to be the next Great King of the Parthian Empire. Not surprisingly, he is far more interesting than our hero, a reliable but unreflective patrician investigator named Marcus Corvinus. After finishing the book, my overwhelming feeling was- "so what?" There wasn't any character development on the part of the hero, and all the singularly pointless intriguing and backstabbing had even less impact than an episode of "CSI." Also, all the British and American slang that peppered the text was extremely irritating. I cannot count how many times I read "okay," "cathouse," "yeah," "kid," and "what the f---", as well as other beauts like, "tap-dancing" and "klatsch." I'm not asking for "thees" and "thous" and other archaic lingo in my historical fiction, but it's hard to get into the mood of a period piece when the characters sound like they're on the verge of saying, "Yo homes, dig this new iPod I got at the Apple store near the Circus Maximus!" It's just lazy writing.

In any case, I'm going to pass on reading any further books by David Wishart. If anyone has a higher tolerance level than me for postmodern vernacular in a story set 2000 years ago, then they should go right ahead and read "Parthian Shot." However, next time I'm going to stick to Steven Saylor.

4.0 out of 5 stars Solid political mystery, March 8, 2008

By 

Raymond Turney (California) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Parthian Shot (Marcus Corvinus Mysteries) (Paperback)

This is a mystery, fairly east to read, with a few exotic twists arising from Roman-Parthian relations. If you like Lindsay Davis, you will like this, unless you are particularly attached to the personality of Falco.

Wishart's series centers around Marcus Corvinus, who is a semi-black sheep son of a politician father. He likes wine, and is generally not too responsible. He has a relationship with his wife Perilla that is vaguely Thin Man like. She is, of course, the cultured and intellectual member of the duo. Their attitudes often seem modern, rather than Roman. I find Marcus Corvinus more to my taste than Falco, but his sexual politics are slightly incorrect by modern standards {not nearly as incorrect in some respects as authentic Roman attitudes would be, of course}. Others may disagree.

That said, the books in the series are well plotted and funny. So I strongly recommend David Wishart's series as light reading for those with an interest in Roman history and politics.