★ 05/16/2022
Davis’s superior 10th whodunit featuring private inquiry agent Flavia Albia (after 2021’s A Comedy of Terrors ) combines an engrossing plot with a plausible evocation of life in ancient Rome. In 89 CE, Davos, an actor friend of Flavia’s adoptive parents, Marcus Didius Falco and Helena Falco, seeks their help probing the murder of Chremes, an actor-manager who also knew the older Falcos, who was “stripped naked and hung up to die on a cross” in one of Emperor Domitian’s stadiums. The emperor had modified performances of a popular drama so that the lead role—a bandit—would be played by a condemned criminal, enabling the execution by crucifixion at the end to be real. Outside the arena where Chremes was found, someone had posted a fake notice advertising the dead man’s upcoming appearance in the play as a means of getting passersby to enter and view the grim tableau. Meanwhile, Flavia has another bizarre murder to solve—a woman gored to death by a bull who identified “the undertaker” as her killer just before expiring. The tension is sustained throughout, and the mystery of the murders satisfactorily explained. This entry reinforces Davis’s place at the top of the Ancient Roman historical subgenre. (July)
"Superior... This entry reinforces Davis's place at the top of the Ancient Roman historical subgenre." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)Kirkus Reviews
02/01/2022
In The Paper Caper , Carlisle's latest "Bibliophile Mystery," murder transpires at the first annual Mark Twain Festival, held by Brooklyn Wainwright at her bookstore and underwritten by media magnate Joseph Cabot. In Castillo's The Hidden One , Amish elders turn to Painters Mill chief of police Kate Burkholder when the remains of a long-vanished bishop are discovered, bearing evidence of foul play (150,000-copy first printing). Private informer Flavia Albia's next Desperate Undertaking is finding a serial killer (or killers) committing brutal murder and staging the corpses around Davis's first-century CE Rome (30,000-copy first printing). In Hokuloa Road , cross genre-writing, Shirley Jackson Award-winning Hand makes Grady Kendall caretaker of a luxury property in Hawaii (as far as possible from his native Maine), then has him hunting for a young woman from his flight who has since vanished (30,000-copy first printing). In McCall Smith's The Sweet Remnants of Summer , Isabel Dalhousie is serving on an advisory committee for the Scottish National Portrait Gallery when she is caught up in the squabbles of a prominent family where Nationalist vs. Socialist ideologies prevail. In Peril at the Exposition , a follow-up to March's Edgar finalist debut, Murder in Old Bombay , newlyweds Capt. Jim Agnihotri and Diana Framji have left British-ruled Bombay (now Mumbai) for 1890s Boston when Jim is sent to investigate a murder in Chicago (50,000-copy first printing). In Munier's The Wedding Plot , Mercy's grandmother Patience is set to marry her longtime beloved at the five-star Lady's Slipper Inn when family enmities bubble to the surface, the inn's spa director vanishes, and a stranger turns up dead (30,000-copy first printing). In An Honest Living —a debut from Murphy, editor in chief of CrimeReads, Literary Hub's crime fiction vertical—an attorney picking up odd jobs after walking out on his stranglehold law firm agrees to help reclusive literati Anna Reddick find her possibly thieving bookseller husband, and all's well until the real Anna Reddick walks in. In Rosenfelt's Holy Chow , an older woman who adopts sweet senior chow mix Tessie from Andy Carpenter's Tara Foundation makes Andy promise that if she dies he will take care of Tessie provided that her son cannot—which he certainly can't when he is arrested days later on suspicion of his mother's murder (60,000-copy first printing).
2022-05-11
The piquant 10th case for Flavia Alba begins with a brutal bang, as the intrepid sleuth cradles Phrygia, a dying woman who's been mauled by Buculus the bull at the Theatre of Balbus; when asked who’d set her up, the woman declares that she was killed by “the undertaker.” The story then flashes back to another murder at the theater, that of Chremes, an actor/manager who was hung naked and left to die on a cross earlier that same day. Though Flavia’s husband, Tiberius, is a stalwart sidekick, she craves the insights of her father, Marcus Didius Falco, the veteran investigator who anchored Davis’ other long-running series, who’s fled the city for some R&R with wife Helena after the boisterous festivities of the Saturnalia. Investigating Chremes' death, Flavia questions all the theater folk, including Chremes’ wife, Phrygia, whose bizarre death at the horns of Buculus the bull will soon occur. The circle of colorful suspects is large, but many have alibis, and none seems to have a connection to an undertaker. The complexity of the crimes leads Flavia to hypothesize multiple killers with serious grudges. The anxieties an impending production of Oedipus Rex triggers among the company are amplified by the death of a leading actor and his driver. Flavia’s first-person narration is refreshingly wry and pointed. Davis helpfully provides armchair sleuths with a complete cast of characters and detailed maps.
A brisk and tidy mystery studded with humor and interesting historic detail.
The clear, sometimes biting voice of narrator Jane Collingwood delivers the tenth installment of the Flavia Albia mystery series, set in Imperial Rome. Flavia, like her adopted father, Falco, is an informer (a private detective) who solves murders through intelligence, courage, sharp interviewing skills, and a determination to uncover the truth. Collingwood captures her wry sense of humor, sarcasm, and steely tone when questioning witnesses and suspects. This murder mystery involves a number of gruesome killings based on Greek tragedies and myths. The theater community is suspected and not to be trusted. Many characters make appearances, and Collingwood manages to bring them to life despite the nearly two millennia that separate them from listeners. D.L.G. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
SEPTEMBER 2022 - AudioFile
The clear, sometimes biting voice of narrator Jane Collingwood delivers the tenth installment of the Flavia Albia mystery series, set in Imperial Rome. Flavia, like her adopted father, Falco, is an informer (a private detective) who solves murders through intelligence, courage, sharp interviewing skills, and a determination to uncover the truth. Collingwood captures her wry sense of humor, sarcasm, and steely tone when questioning witnesses and suspects. This murder mystery involves a number of gruesome killings based on Greek tragedies and myths. The theater community is suspected and not to be trusted. Many characters make appearances, and Collingwood manages to bring them to life despite the nearly two millennia that separate them from listeners. D.L.G. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
SEPTEMBER 2022 - AudioFile
