It’s the summer of AD 77, and Roman “informer” (read PI) Marcus Didius Falco is going through a rough time. Shortly after the death of his infant son, he receives news that his father has died. Alas, crime waits for no man, and Falco must grapple with his grief as he investigates the suspicious disappearance of a middle-age couple who supplied statues to his father. (It seems they got on the bad side of the Claudii, a flock of sinister freedmen.) At the same time, the discovery of a mutilated corpse at a graveyard prompts rumors of a serial killer. Marcus’ longtime friend and colleague Petronius helps him gather clues on the murder case, but it’s not long before Anacrites, Rome’s loathsome chief spy, steals it out from under them. On the domestic front, Falco is troubled by the lingering malaise of his notoriously spirited wife, Helena. Nemesis is a fitting title for this solid twentieth entry in British historian Davis’ standout series, in which Falco encounters a collection of cold-blooded and bloody annoying foes. --Allison Block
Description:
From Publishers Weekly
Davis immediately engages the reader's sympathies in her fine 20th ancient Roman historical featuring informer Marcus Didius Falco (after 2009's Alexandria) with her moving depiction of the death of Falco's newborn son. When Falco seeks out his father to share the horrible news, he's stunned to learn that "Pa" has also died. While Falco is coming to terms with the double tragedy, an associate asks him to help look into the murder of Julius Modestus, an art dealer whose mutilated body was dumped in a mausoleum. Falco learns that Modestus and his wife vanished after making complaints about the difficult Claudii, freedmen who originally came from the imperial family, with whom the couple had a border dispute in the Pontine Marshes. With its tricky, suspenseful plot, this entry deserves to join its immediate predecessor on bestseller lists, though some modern-sounding prose ("Have they lawyered up?" one character asks) won't please every historical fan.
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From
It’s the summer of AD 77, and Roman “informer” (read PI) Marcus Didius Falco is going through a rough time. Shortly after the death of his infant son, he receives news that his father has died. Alas, crime waits for no man, and Falco must grapple with his grief as he investigates the suspicious disappearance of a middle-age couple who supplied statues to his father. (It seems they got on the bad side of the Claudii, a flock of sinister freedmen.) At the same time, the discovery of a mutilated corpse at a graveyard prompts rumors of a serial killer. Marcus’ longtime friend and colleague Petronius helps him gather clues on the murder case, but it’s not long before Anacrites, Rome’s loathsome chief spy, steals it out from under them. On the domestic front, Falco is troubled by the lingering malaise of his notoriously spirited wife, Helena. Nemesis is a fitting title for this solid twentieth entry in British historian Davis’ standout series, in which Falco encounters a collection of cold-blooded and bloody annoying foes. --Allison Block