Poseidon's Gold [Import] [Paperback]

Lindsey Davis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2, 2008

Rome, AD 72: Marcus Didius Falco has returned home from a six-month mission to the German legions. When an ex-legionary friend of his is found viciously stabbed to death, Falco is the prime suspect. Now, he has only three days to prove he is not a murderer, to trace the real suspect, amass evidence and win a fortune.

“Fast-moving, funny and full of atmosphere; if you haven’t met Marcus Didius Falco before, start here.”–Mail on Sunday

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

"GREAT STUFF...A classic hard-boiled, smart-mouth detective who happens to work in ancient Rome."
--Molly Ivins
Los Angeles Daily News
After six months in wild Germania, imperial gumshoe Marcus Didius Falco is back in Rome sweet Rome. But his apartment has been ransacked. And although he desperately needs 400,000 sesterces in order to marry his aristocratic love, Helena, his only client is his mother, who insists that he find out whether the scandalous claims against his dead brother, Festus, are true.
Then the chief tarnisher of Festus's good name is murdered, and Marcus becomes the prime suspect. Someone is definitely fiddling with the scales of justice. The more Marcus hunts for the thread that will lead him out of this doom-laden labyrinth of misery and mystery, the less his life is worth. Except, as seems likely, as a meal for the Emperor's hungry lions...
"AN INTRIGUING TALE...COMPULSIVE READING."
--Roanoke Times & World-News
"A VIVIDLY REALIZED IMPERIAL ROME--NOISY, DENSE AND DANGEROUS."
--Publishers Weekly --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Lindsey Davis was born in Birmingham but now lives in Greenwich. After an English degree at Oxford she joined the Civil Service but now writes full time.


From the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Arrow (September 2, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0099515091
• ISBN-13: 978-0099515098
• Product Dimensions: 5 x 0.8 x 7.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #917,611 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars He ain't Heavy, He's my Brother, September 26, 2006

By 

J. Chippindale (England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Poseidon's Gold: A Marcus Didius Falco Mystery (Mass Market Paperback)

This is the fifth novel in the mystery series featuring Marcus Didius Falco, an informer and sleuth in Rome at the time of Vespasian. A series of books that have become hugely popular, so much so that the author is now at the forefront of historical mystery writers. It was probably a stroke of genius on her part to have novels that are extremely well researched and contain all the elements that would be and should be found in the Roman world of circa AD70, but to have a lead character who has the vocabulary of a present day New York cop. In this the fifth novel Falco and Helena Justina seem like old friends.

Falco is eager to get back to the hustle and bustle of Rome after what has seemed like an endless journey from Germania where his last adventure took him. Falco and Helena are shocked to find the apartment in Rome has been ransacked and used by squatters. Falco has been talked into staying with his mother until he finds out that she already has a lodger, an ex-legionary friend of Festus, Falco's brother and this so called "friend" is demanding money he says he is owed to him by Festus from a business venture.

The next day the ex-legionary is found stabbed to death and the chief suspect is guess who? Falco has his work cut out to prove that he is innocent, find the real killer and also prove that his brother is innocent of the crime too. The last part won't be easy because it is just the sort of crude justice that Festus would employ. As if that wasn't bad enough Falco may have to call on someone else for help. The last person he wants to be indebted to . . . Geminus, formerly Marcus Didius Favonius, Falco's father. If his mother finds out his life won't be worth living.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not Free SF Reader, November 3, 2007

By 

Blue Tyson "- Research Finished" (Legion clubhouse) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Poseidon's Gold: A Marcus Didius Falco Mystery (Mass Market Paperback)

Dodgy relative deals.

Back from Germania, Falco again has to deal with trouble that is literally much closer to home, or at least closer to family. His male relatives have more than a touch of the Arthur Daley about them, and it seems, in this particular antique business, somethign valuable has gone missing.

Amusing investigations and the odd bad joke follow. Definitely a good one.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I don't think the reviewr below and I read the same book, October 23, 2000

By 

Dbmsewer "Dbmsewer" (Springfield, VA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Poseidon's Gold: A Marcus Didius Falco Mystery (Mass Market Paperback)

Poseidon's Gold pits Falco against the forces that would defame the good name of his not-so-honorable brother Festus, his father and a band of art thieves trying to collect a questionably unpaid debt. This lacked some of the action that marks the earlier Falco novels which is why it only merited four stars, but it's still great fun. It's not entirely fare to compare Davis with Saylor - his writing is very different and while it is sophisticated it lacks the irony and humor of Davis' work. Read her when you want to smile and let's hope poor Falco gets a break in one of her future books.