Poseidon's Gold

Another enjoyable, beautifully-researched and bittersweet romp through the palaces and squalid back alleys of Imperial Rome, this time finding Marcus Didius back home from Germany to find an intruder in his mother's kitchen, intent on recovering a debt his dead hero brother left behind. Shame and scandal in the family? It gets worse when the intruder is found dead and even Falco's friend Petronius has him clearly in the frame. Can Falco solve the case and clear his name before the magistrate has him crucified? What does his shifty absentee father do? And will it all end with him having the wherewithal to marry Helena? I'm not telling. But it is a lovely send-up of the art market.

Private informer Marcus Didius Falco returns from his investigation in Germany to find his apartment wrecked by sub-letters his landlord will never admit to. And he returns to a scandal forming around his war hero brother, Festus, which starts out with an uninformative soldier from his brother's unit who proceeds to die bloodily immediately after. Lindsay Davis sends us into a corrupt street-level Rome that seems fitting for the string of crazy aristocrats it boats in history, accompanying Falco. Falco has to find the real culprit or a reasonable facsimile or go to trial for murder as the most convenient suspect. It's hard to see how Falco is going to clear himself, and Davis skillfully draws it out to the end and draws the reader along show more with Falco. Each novel Davis writes focuses on some aspect of Roman life, from aqueducts to banking, although hardly in a lecturing manner, and this time she zeroes in on statuary. The story is accompanied by an amazing level of research, but worked into the story in an unimposing manner. Great story. show less

Another enjoyable, beautifully-researched and bittersweet romp through the palaces and squalid back alleys of Imperial Rome, this time finding Marcus Didius back home from Germany to find an intruder in his mother's kitchen, intent on recovering a debt his dead hero brother left behind. Shame and scandal in the family? It gets worse when the intruder is found dead and even Falco's friend Petronius has him clearly in the frame. Can Falco solve the case and clear his name before the magistrate has him crucified? What does his shifty absentee father do? And will it all end with him having the wherewithal to marry Helena? I'm not telling. But it is a lovely send-up of the art market.

Roman informer Marcus Didius Falco’s latest investigation keeps him close to home since it revolves around secrets that his soldier brother, Festus, might have been hiding on his last visit to Rome before his death. Falco teams up with is estranged father, Geminus, to search for the truth. Helena Justina once again provides loyal support. Davis gives a new twist to the wise-cracking private eye novel by setting the series in ancient Rome, and by the fifth book in the series I think she’s found a balance that will appeal to fans of either mystery subgenre.

An excellent entry in this series featuring Marcus Didius Falco. We meet his father, finally, and learn about him and about Marcus's brother Festus, late of the Judean wars and not always the golden-haired boy everyone seems to think he was. The plot is complex but comprehensible, involving imports from Greece, the terrors of slavery, and with a few delightful twists at the end.

Almost 4 stars. Marcus Didius and Helena are back in Rome after their adventures in Germany. They come back to mayhem, blackmail, soldiers seeking retribution and the ghost of Marcus' older brother Festus.

Festus is one of the best dead character I've read. He has been dead for 3 years but still haunts every one and his antics are messing up the family. This fifth novel in Davis' series is more about family, family loyalty, family sticky together even when one of the family nearly cost you your life.

Not a lot of action but plenty of character development. Life in Rome in the first century is never, ever dull. Lost ships full of Greek statues, fakes, originals, scumbag artists, runaway slaves are only the tip of the iceberg. Still all show more through this we have two strong, loving characters (Helena and Marcus) that are worth it, the side mystery is not the principal attraction of this novel but adds a nice touch. show less

The Falco novels keep getting better and better as the author moves away from archaic language that gives the reader a headache to understand, yet keeps the flavor of Ancient Rome. This time Falco's client is his mother who is looking for him to clear his brother, the hero, Festus' name. Paired with his estranged father, Geminus, Falco embarks on the mission of "What scheme really was Festus working on when he died?" Replete with our favorite characters of Helena Justina, the love of Falco's life and Petronius, his best friend who also must question him in the murder of a centurion, Poseidon's Gold is a fun book to read.