Saturnalia [Paperback]

Lindsey Davis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2007

It is the Roman holiday of Saturnalia. Marcus Didius Falco and Helena have returned from Greece only to find that Helena’s brother Justinus’s marital problems have exploded. Justinus’s first love, Veleda, a tribal leader and prophetess from Germania, has been brought to Rome and put under house arrest pending a ritual sacrifice at her capturer’s Triumph.

Justinus is love-struck once more and his wife, the temperamental Claudia, is enraged. Then Veleda escapes leaving behind a corpse. Justinus disappears too and it is up to Falco and the Chief Spy Anacrites to try to find the missing couple all against the backdrop of the orgiastic holiday period when literally anything goes . . .


From the Hardcover edition.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Like visiting old friends in a familiar and endearing, if sometimes bizarre, environment. Jokes and skullduggery crowd the pages.”
–Guardian

“Falco wisecracks his way through the empire’s sleazy underside . . . Davis’s crimes are wickedly convoluted — real fun.”
–Time


From the Hardcover edition. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Lindsey Davis’s first Falco novel, The Silver Pigs was published in 1989. Since then, her novel Two For the Lions won the inaugural Ellis Peters Historical Dagger in 1998 and in 1999 she received the Sherlock Award for Best Comic Detective for her creation, Marcus Didius Falco. Her last ten novels have all been Sunday Times hardcover bestsellers.


From the Hardcover edition. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 324 pages
• Publisher: Random House Hardbacks; Export ed edition (February 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1846050359
• ISBN-13: 978-1846050350
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,485,571 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well Worth Waiting For!, January 9, 2007

By 

J. Chippindale (England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Saturnalia (Falco 18) (Hardcover)

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. In 1999 she received the Sherlock Award for Best Comic Detective for her creation, Marcus Didius Falco. Lindsey Davis's books are eagerly awaited by the large following of readers she has gathered together with her Falco books and I am not ashamed to say that I am one of them. There are several authors that write similar books and I enjoy reading their books too, but the Falco books just seem to have that little bit extra that I cannot put my finger on.

Saturnalia, as anyone with an interest in Roman history is a holiday. The daytime is just something that comes before the night and the wild parties that the city of Rome has always been famous for. It is the ideal time for a returning Roman general to be given his `Triumph' something very rarely accorded to a victorious leader of Rome's mighty legions. The general has a famous enemy of Rome as his captive and wishes to use her as a ritual sacrifice at his Triumph. But things go horribly wrong, she acquires a mysterious illness and then a young man is brutal murdered and she escapes from house arrest.

Falco has to pit his wits against his old rival and enemy Anacrites a man Falco's mother once admired, but she was in a majority of one. Can either of them find the fugitive before she becomes an embarrassment to the government. With all the mayhem that comes with the holiday season the search seems impossible and only Falco seems to notice that death is stalking the streets of the city.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars From the UK pre-publication synopsis:, November 4, 2006

By 

Malcolm A. C. Weir (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Saturnalia (Falco 18) (Hardcover)

It is the Roman holiday of Saturnalia. The days are short, the nights are for wild parties. A general has captured a famous enemy of Rome, and brings her home to adorn his Triumph as a ritual sacrifice. The logistics go wrong; she acquires a mystery illness - then a young man is horrendously murdered and she escapes from house arrest. Marcus Didius Falco is pitted against his old rival, the Chief Spy Anacrites, in a race to find the fugitive before her presence angers the public and makes the government look stupid. Falco has other priorities, for Helena's brother Justinus has also vanished, perhaps fatally involved once more with the great lost love of his youth. Against the riotous backdrop of the season of misrule, the search seems impossible and only Falco seems to notice that some dark agency is bringing death to the city streets...

5.0 out of 5 stars Boy am I glad that there's another Falco mystery!, April 8, 2007

By 

S. Schwartz "romonko" (alberta canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Saturnalia (Falco 18) (Hardcover)

We've had to wait a bit for this one, but it was worth the wait! Lindsey Davis is at her best here with fast-talking, fast-thinking Falco and his hilarious entourage. The best part about these books are the characters, and it's like they're old friends when you read about their hilarious adventures again. Falco's domestic bliss and its inherent problems make for very funny reading. And the mystery is always fun too. This book is set in Rome, and it is set around the Saturnalia holiday (around the end of December) in the first century A.D. Falco seems to be the only one in Rome during this holiday time that realizes that people are dying in large numbers on the city streets. And when he uncovers the reason behind these deaths, it is a chilling solution. At the same time he is trying to find an escaped political prisoner. He gets up to more highjinks than you can shake a stick at. This is a truly funny book, and Lindsey Davis is my favourite author.