Customer Reviews

Venus in Copper

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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!

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!!

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.

I am a big fan of Lindsey Davis' Marcus Didius Falco detective stories. He is an Informer (private detective) who periodically gets assignments from the Emperor Vespasian (around 70 BC). These are great fun, light hearted, and give you a real feel for what it must have been to live in Rome during the Roman Empire. His problems center around the fact that he is in a sleezy business, in love with and marries a Senator's daughter and has to come up from his Plebian status to be worthy of her. On top of that he has to contend with all his crazy family members.

Currently (2010), Lindsey Davis has written 20 Falco mysteries. Like all story series it helps to know the preceding stories (The Silver Pigs and Shadows in Bronze) to completely understand the Venus in Copper.

The BBC Birmingham has done the first 4 stories and the voices chosen are well suited to the characters. The plot encompases a number of murders and lots of blind alleys he finds himself in as he tries to unravel the mystery. The side story involves the Emperor's son Titus lusting over Falco's sweetheart, the Senators daughter. All in all it is a fun way to spend 3 hours.

"Venus in Copper," the third Falco novel, marks his first new 'case,' as the previous two novels covered facets of the same extended plot. However, the social scheming of the freed slaves the Hortensii, the reputedly deadly widow Severina Zotica, Falco's clashes with the Emperor's agents, and poisonings at banquets don't provide as exciting a plot as the political conspiracy of the first two novels. In addition, the action never moves outside of Rome, and therefore lacks the charm of the additional rural settings of Britannia and Pompeii featured in the previous novels.

Falco still spars with his patrician girlfriend Helena Justina, often in the best of Davis's subtle and evocative prose, and Falco's morose attitude about the future of the relationship is skillfully fueled by the entrance of true historical personality Titus Caesar as a suitor. The Falco-Helena character relationship is the real core of these novels, not the actual plots, so the slightly lesser mystery in "Venus" does not detract from the continuing development of these rich characters.

Lindsey Davis is no Steven Saylor - which is both good and bad. On the one hand, Davis crafts a better mystery, with excellent attention paid to dropping just the right amount of clues at just the right time, keeping us guessing til the very end as to who is to blame for what. On the other hand, Saylor is far, far more effective in evoking ancient Rome. Davis' Falco, to quote a previous reviewer, is "a modern mystery in togas." Ancient Rome is the backdrop, but it could just as easily be ancient Greece, or medieval France, or Victorian England. So, which is better: Saylor or Davis? That depends on your tastes, obviously. For the mystery, go to Davis. For the history, go to Saylor. Or, better still, read both!

This was my first foray into the Falco series, and I did not feel any loss from missing the first two volumes. Almost the opposite, in fact. These books are very difficult to find nowadays, so do not wait until you find book one to get started.

I LOVED this book!! It's packed full of that synical Falco humor! This book leans on the other two far less than Shadow In Bronze did. This you could read all by it's self. The only problem I have with this book is that it's a little long, but not extremely so. I highly suggest this book to anyone who needs a laugh.

Maybe it was the four years of Latin in high school, or maybe I just like detective stories and historical novels. In any case, I really liked this book! I know enough about the period to find the historical details fascinating, alhtough we seldom studied about the lower classes. I'm looking forward to working my way through the series. I also liked the interplay between Marcus Didius and Helena Justina in this one. I enjoyed Silver Pigs and Shadows in Bronze, but I have the feeling I'll be rereading this one.

With Venus in Copper, Lindsey Davis is continuing her Didius Falco series in fine style. As a fan of mysteries and especially historical mysteries, I was ecstatic to find an author who can write a great story, not just mystery and who injects both fact and humor into the mix. Venus in Copper also adds a lighter note to the Falco storyline. You'll get an insight into everyday Roman life of 2000 years ago and you'll cheer for Falco and his friends (and even for his enemies) in this charming and addictive book. It can stand on its own, but it improved by having read Silver Pigs and Shadows in Bronze first.

It's well plotted, with likeable characters. However, the sensibility of the characters is 'way too modern to be authentic, and the idea that a Roman senator's daughter would *ever* consider marrying a plebe is too ludicrous for me to take seriously. Maybe I'm too picky, but I like historical fiction to be accurate--or it's just modern mystery dressed up in togas.