Venus in Copper [Mass Market Paperback]

Lindsey Davis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 23, 1993

"Delectably funny...A novel that gives new meaning to the term 'classic detective fiction.'"
THE WASHINGTON POST BOOK WORLD
In 70 A.D. in ancient Rome, no one is a saint. Or so thinks Marcus Didius Falco, a private investigator first introduced in the award-winning SILVER PIGS, who's trying to prevent a murder before it happens. When every man a woman marries dies, Falco knows there's smoke and fire--and he'll stop at nothing to untangle the Gordion knot that proves it.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Ave Marcus Didius Falco! Once again Imperial Rome's wisecracking private investigator splendidly incarnates his time and placeas he uncovers a real estate development scam that proves the slum landlord is a long-established species. Fans of Silver Pigs and Shadows in Bronze will happily find Falco still sparring and making up with Helena Justina, the divorced daughter of a senator, carousing with his friend Petronius, captain of the Aventine Watch, obstructing his arch-enemy Anacrites, the Emperor Vespasian's chief spy, and trying to keep his mother and sisters at a comfortable distance. Here Falco is hired by two of the Hortensii, a group of freed slaves who have parlayed the legacy of their former owner into a fortune (which they display to vulgar excess), to investigate the thrice-widowed fiancee of one of their members. While Falco tries to prove that Severina Zotica has murdered her previous husbands, her betrothed is poisoned at a dinner with a notoriously unscrupulous developer and the detective must dig for other motives. Arson, evictions, skyrocketing rents, layered mortgage deals, another murder, near death for Helena and a brutal beating for himself spur Falco to ferret out the truth about the Hortensii and Severina. Period details, humor and Falco's modern sensibility add up to another sterling performance from Davis.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

YA-- This is Davis's third historical mystery featuring the roguish gumshoe Marcius Didius Falco. Relatives of Hortensius, a wealthy Roman, hire Falco to check into the background of his betrothed, whose previous three husbands died under mysterious circumstances. When Hortensius is poisoned, his apparently bereaved widow hires Falco to find his killer. The body count mounts as Falco is caught up in a complex political web. Intriguing characters abound in this skillfully written, Chandleresque mystery that gives readers a peek at the seamy side of life in first-century Rome. Davis's fans will not be disappointed.
- John Lawson, Fairfax County Public Library, VA
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (January 23, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345373901
• ISBN-13: 978-0345373908
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 3.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,132,682 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

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Wit--Great History!, August 24, 2002

By 

Jenny Hanniver "medieval_student" (Philadelphia, PA, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Venus in Copper (Mass Market Paperback)

I'd give this novel a 4.5 if I could. It isn't the top of the line as Falco stories go, but it's so far superior to most other historical mysteries that I hated to rate it less than 5. This is the novel that contains Davis's most waggish bit of BRITISH fun, on page 135 (paperback version):

"It was a hundred years since Rome decided to civilize the Gauls;. . . I am prepared to concede that one day the three cold Gallic provinces will come up with a contribution to the civilised arts--but nobody is going to convince me that it will be mastery of cuisine."

My best friend, married to a Frenchman who is an excellent home-kitchen chef, fell off her chair at that one, as I had done when I read it a few years earlier! And that's just one sample of Davis's mordant sense of "tweak."

I demand to know why this book is out of print!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well plotted historical mystery with meaty characters..., May 29, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: Venus in Copper (Mass Market Paperback)

I have read all of the Marcus Didius Falco mysteries and Venus In Copper is my favorite. Ancient Roman life is weaved around the characters delightfully giving a fine historical milieu. Falco is a salt-of-the-earth type of character with honour and nobility yet a certain baseness that we can all relate to. The characters are well thought out, the prose is witty, and the premise is interesting. The femme fatale quality of this book reminds one of Chandler. Highly Recommended!!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Snakes Alive, September 25, 2006

By 

J. Chippindale (England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Venus in Copper (Mass Market Paperback)

This is the third novel in the mystery series featuring Marcus Didius Falco, an informer and sleuth. 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 Rome in AD70, but to have a lead character who has the vocabulary of a present day New York cop. In this the third novel Falco is starting to feel like an old friend.

Falco is trying to live down the indignity of being released from jail with the help of his mother of all people and he has accepted a case from some rich private clients. He is also in the middle of trying to entice his girlfriend Helena Justina to come and live with him, though why a senator's daughter, especially one who has just lost their baby, would wish to live in the hovel he calls home is anybody's guess.

When the client Falco is supposedly protecting dies, he is immediately re-hired by none other than the chief suspect. The crux of the matter is that Falco must find and expose a woman, a fortune hunter, who has lost more husbands to accidents than it can be believed possible.

Falco has more than a little excitement during the investigation, including a brush with a female contortionist who has a very interesting snake act. He also has the tremendous honour, or otherwise of a "friendly" visit from Titus Caesar himself, right in the middle of Falco attempting to cook a huge turbot without the aid of every chef's must have, a fish kettle.