Man Eater

Quite good, actually.

Claudia is a woman on her own (a widow) whose adventures take place at the time of Augustus. She is on her way to her estate when a thugs attack her on the way and she has to stay with a local family who have some exotic hobbies and pets. Then a man is murdered and Claudia is the suspect. Getting out of this trouble naturally demands that Claudia must find the murderer herself. In this she is assisted by her loyal admirer, the "tall, dark and handsome" Orbilius.

I enjoyed reading the book. It is not a serious one, but if you'd occasionally rather read something that doesn't require brainwork, this book is just the thing. The only thing that annoyed me was that almost every male character lusted after Claudia and show more made suggestions to her. That's just such a cliche... Also, when the murderer finally reveals all, his motive turns out to be pure madness - which is always a disappointment since you can make crazy characters do anything without needing to justify their actions to the reader. show less

After a traffic accident Claudia Sefirius is forced to take shelter in an isolated villa in the Umbrian hills for the night. The next morning a man tries to force his way into her room and when she tries to keep him out he collapses with a knife in his belly -- a knife witnesses say she planted there. How is she going to beat a murder rap?

The usual excellent mixture of humour and thrills.

Marilyn Todd has Claudia, Lindsay Davis has Falco. Both tough, both from the wrong side of the Appian Way, and both solve the mystery - Claudia does it with the help of a Roman policeman (ooh, very patrician bloke is Orbilio) and of course Falco has his sentate daughter of a wife, Helen. Lots of boisterous (and less than salubrious) family members floating in and out of the stories - one difference is that there's a lot more 20th century cussing in Ms Todd's books. I've only seen them in England - so if anyone knows where to find them in the US, brilliant!