Customer Reviews

Scandal Takes A Holiday

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Marcus Didius Falco is not, despite his claims, visiting Ostia for pleasure, but to track down Infamia, whose scandalous column in the Daily Gazette gets him in trouble more often than not. He said he was going to visit an Aunt in Ostia, but he never returned and the only thing he leaves behind him are some personal effects and a trail of several odd clues.

For instance, shortly before his disappearance, he attempted to take on various different jobs, even applied to the Vigiles. One of the last people to see him is a reclusive old sea merchant who claims, despite rumors otherwise, to have never been a pirate...piracy being one of the things that, officially, no longer exists.

This sixteenth book following the adventures of Falco has several interesting twists. An informer (private eye) of some renown, he, along with his best friend Petronis and his love Helena find themselves in an increasingly dangerous situation, filled with Cicilain pirates, kidnapping and murder.

The series is famous for its rich depiction of Ancient Rome and each one seems to focus on a slightly different area of the culture and history, teaching us a great deal. This time, as you may have gathered, it's piracy.

It was interesting to see how the pirates were used by the Roman government, then declared completely stamped out, though, unofficially, everyone knew it was still going on. Also, the rules that these pirates abided by to make sure that their victim's families paid up showed them to be shrewd businessmen as well as criminals.

In her newest Marcus Didius Falco mystery "Scandal Takes a Holiday" Lindsey Davis has made another hit. I usually don't read mysteries, but I make her books an exception because I like her ability to provide atmosphere. She is one of the best writers of historical mysteries and a good part of that is that after reading one of her books you actually feel as if you have been to Rome, Roman Britain, and North Africa or, in the case of the present work, the Roman port city of Ostia.

In the current book, Falco and his patrician wife, Helena Justina, are involved in searching for a scandal-mongering scribe from the Imperial sanctioned Gazette who has disappeared, apparently in Ostia while visiting his aunt. The following enticing tale involves the protagonists in contact with pirates, various relatives, including Falco's shady father and scapegrace Uncle, and numerous shady characters in an ancient port city so vividly described that you can smell the salt air and hear the gulls cry. The ending, as always, results from twists and turns that leave the reader breathless.

This is a great book to read when you want to relax from the trials of modern life. In the process the reader is reminded that such trials are only somewhat different (and in most cases a bit easier to deal with for us privileged Westerners) than those of the past. In essence difficulties in life always have and always will remain a part of the human condition.

I recommend "Scandal Takes a Holiday" without reservation.

The upper class in Rome get their news from the Daily Gazette. It's mostly boring--events of the Emperor, some lies (rumors of pirates are untrue), but with a load of gossip. Except that gossip has gotten thin lately as the gossip writer has taken an extended vacation. So extended, in fact, that his fellow writers hire Marcus Didius Falco, an informant, to find him.

Falco, along with his wife and assorted members of his family, head for Ostia, the port of Rome where Diocles was supposed to be visiting with his aunt. As Falco investigates, he finds evidence of multiple crimes--piracy that had supposedly been smashed by Pompey, professional kidnapping, and a strange mix of firefighting with professional building.

Author Lindsey Davis continues her funny and exciting Marcus Didius Falco series in SCANDAL TAKES A HOLIDAY. Falco's relations with his aristocratic wife Helena and their respective families adds to both humor and to the character depth. As always, Davis's historical detail adds to the interest and engages the reader.

I thought Davis occasionally got carried away with the family and a series of mysteries that didn't really relate to each other, making this novel a bit weaker than some of the others in the series. That doesn't mean that SCANDAL wasn't a completely enjoyable ride. I found myself laughing out loud several times and read through the entire novel in a single sitting.

Who would have thought that in 76 A.D. Rome had a newspaper named the Daily Gazette that came complete with a gossip column? Who would have thought that Rome had a newspaper at all? What, they hand wrote it on scrolls? Ok, so it's a little stretch of the imagination. But at least it's not written in Latin.

Linsey Davis writes with an interesting mix of the ancient with the present. If you're not going to write in Latin, you had just as well bring the rest of the language up to date as well, as in "Too right, my boy!"

The story is about Marcus Didius Falco a private detective, a private informer, is on a case involving the writer of the gossip column, who has vanished. By my count this is the sixteenth in the series. And any mystery character who can survive fifteen books and still have enough to do another book has something going for them. And in this case that includes a Crime Writers Association award as well as a legion of fans.

Marcus Didius Falco has been voted the best comic detective. This is mostly due to Davis' style of writing, she writes books you cannot put down partly because of the plots and partly the light humour she give her readers. Falco is an informer in Ancient Rome, that is much like a private detective today, he gets into a lot of scrapes but solves his own cases and several of other peoples. In this book he is hired to find the missing scribe who writes the scandal pages of the Daily Gazette. His investigation takes him to the coastal town of Ostia some twenty miles from Rome where Diocles was supposed to be holidaying. Falco moves his whole family into a small apartment, that is partner and colleague, Helena, their two daughters and a foster child Albia who takes care of the babies. While pursuing leads on the scribe's whereabouts Falco stumbles on a large band of pirates and a kidnapping syndicate in the region so he assists the law enforcement agency in the region to round up those gangs in the process of discovering the truth about Diocles' disappearance.

What sort of story is this? It is not a study of character. Marcus Didius Falco is as feckless an "informer" as ever, his patrician wife still has the smarts in the family, his sister Maia is ever obnoxious, the growing kids have quarrels, and Petronius is here. So, this is a tale of a Roman extended family (very extended here), on a vacation of a sort. Most all the other series characters make appearences, if only to send them away. Each one is a well-differentiated and recognizable "character," indeed, but there's little character development (despite one big revelation). Not much back-story is given for this mob, although there's now a handy genealogy for the Didius clan and some helpful maps. So, this is not the place to start this amusing series.

This volume lacks much of mystery (well, there is the mystery cult of "mother" Cybele and her eunuch priests). Falco the sleuth is seeking a missing muckraker, but he doesn't make much progress for a great many pages. Instead he seems to fall into one tangential investigation after another (although, this being a novel, they must all tie in somehow, even if as red herrings--or should I say garum?*). Actually, the tangents ARE the story this time. Falco is at his best when his values are at stake, but the missing scandal monger is not really one of them. (Rome did have a daily newspaper, but it belonged to the Emperor and was posted only in the Forum.)

I really enjoyed Davis's descriptions of several Roman customs new to this series. There's the workings of the port city of Ostia where the Didii spend their time in this volume, numerous temple cults besides Cybele's, a grand Roman funeral at the cusp of the story, and everybody's favorites: Pirates--on shore, afloat, and somehow entangled in this story (ah, there's the mystery).

Davis is writing the most amusing, or cynical, or contemporary, series of Roman whodunnits. I think there are more funny asides here than usual. Her humor tends to drag it out a bit, or divert attention from the plot, or reduce the tension of Falco's quest. Falco's sceptical view of everything is the most "contemporary" aspect of Davis's writing (aside from the absence of the Ciceronian rhetorical flourishes seen in ancient writings). Davis is light on Latin words and terms, probably a good thing (in contrast to Colleen McCullough's very serious series that comes with a glossary).

I give it four stars because while it is not Davis at her best, and lacks suspense, the setting and plot are fresh. The pb cover art drops the previous "mosaic" image taken from the story in favor of an atmospheric city scene, which I think is an inappropriate Renaissance scene.

*For more on this piquant sauce, see the story in Steven Saylor's amusing collection, A Gladiator Dies Only Once (the title story is also most entertaining).

I always wait with bated breath for the next Falco novel, and this one does not disappoint. In it Falco and his brood are at the seaside for the summer, but not for R&R. Falco is trying to locate a missing scribe who happens to write the hottest gossip column in the daily news of that time. Bear in mind that these novels are set in 76AD - in ancient Rome. If you haven't read one of Ms. Davis' novels, I highly recommend that you do, and this one would not be a bad place to start. Then you'll want to read all the other previous 16 in the series. Ms. Davis is a delight and Falco is wonderful! The books are cheerful and humourous, but you also learn a lot about ancient Roman life. In this book we learn all about the privateers and pirates that plied the seas, and we read as Falco gets in one scrape after another. Pure delicious fun.

Our intrepid hero has the task of finding a missing gossip writer in the seaport town of Ostia. Of course, with Falco, nothing is ever as simple as it initially appears, and quite soon he finds himself up to his neck in various nefarious doings. In addition, he meets an uncle who is never spoken about by the rest of the family, and also learns some very interesting things about his father. This is a rollicking story, and it moves along quite rapidly. The Falco series is one of the best, and this book certainly lives up to the quality of the others.

I always wait with bated breath for the next Falco novel, and this one does not disappoint. In it Falco and his brood are at the seaside for the summer, but not for R&R. Falco is trying to locate a missing scribe who happens to write the hottest gossip column in the daily news of that time. Bear in mind that these novels are set in 76AD - in ancient Rome. If you haven't read one of Ms. Davis' novels, I highly recommend that you do, and this one would not be a bad place to start. Then you'll want to read all the other previous 16 in the series. Ms. Davis is a delight and Falco is wonderful! The books are cheerful and humourous, but you also learn a lot about ancient Roman life. In this book we learn all about the privateers and pirates that plied the seas, and we read as Falco gets in one scrape after another. Pure delicious fun.

"Scadal Takes a Holiday" is the latest of Lindsey Davis's chronicles of the "informer" Marcus Didius Falco of the first century AD Rome -- sort of a hardboiled detective in a toga (although Falco doesn't really like wearing a toga). This adventure takes him to port of Ostia downriver from Rome, seeking for a scandalsheet writer who has disappered. As usual, his family proves more troublesome (and maybe more dangerous) than the criminals he encounters. Although Davis's characters perhaps lack the depth and subtlety of those of Steven Saylor (author of a series of mysteries set in first century BCE Rome), the Falco books nonetheless are well researched and provide authentic glimpses into the politics and culture of early Imperial Rome.