In first century A.D. Rome, during the reign of Vespasian, Marcus Didius Falco works as a private “informer,” often for the emperor, ferreting out hidden truths and bringing villains to ground. But even informers take vacations with their wives, so in A.D. 77, Falco and his wife, Helena Justina, with others in tow, travel to Alexandria, Egypt. But they aren’t there long before Falco finds himself in the midst of nefarious doings—when the Librarian of the great library is found dead, under suspicious circumstances.

Falco quickly finds himself on the trail of dodgy doings, malfeasance, deadly professional rivalry, more bodies and the lowest of the low—book thieves! As the bodies pile up, it’s up to Falco to untangle this horrible mess and restore order to a disordered universe.

Despite being number 19 in the series, this is the first of the Falco books I've picked up and I was at first a little taken aback with the writing style. Having read quite a few historical books, including those set in Rome around the same time, it took a while to get into the modern, lighthearted approach to the storytelling.

However, it was amusing enough to continue with, and the story soon settled down into a reasonable investigative murder inquiry based around deaths in the Alexandria Library. Enjoyable, and would probably read another in the series. ( )

Another Falco book - great historical fiction, disguised as detective fiction. Great combo - you get a cocky private detective story, but set in ancient Rome. The historical background is good quality and soundly researched, while the detective fiction is engaging. The result is highly enjoyable escapist fiction. ( )

A visit to Egypt by Falco, a wise-cracking imperial informant from ancient Rome. A solid entry in the series, I loved it. ( )

It's A.D. 77, and Falco with Helena Justina and family have travelled to Alexandria for a holiday.
Until a dead body of the Head Librarian is discovered under suspicious circumstances, but this is not the last one.

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I always love Lindsey Davis. This one had several references to earlier stories that made we want to go dig them off the shelf. ( )