AUGUST 2020 - AudioFile
Jane Collingwood’s lovely alto voice is a perfect instrument for the charming and drily witty Flavia Albia, who can’t seem to stay home and behave herself when there is a murderer to bring to justice. Normally she wouldn’t go near the Grove of the Caesars, since prostitutes have been disappearing there for years. But when a highborn lady is murdered in the grove, the victim’s family asks her to investigate. Albia is soon convinced that there is a serial killer at work, and that the Vigiles have been ignoring his crimes for years. Collingwood’s Albia is smart, ironic, and immensely likable, and the cultural details and social politics of first-century Rome make a delicious backdrop for this skillfully written and engagingly performed detective novel. B.G. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
05/11/2020
Set in Rome in 89 CE, Davis’s engrossing eighth mystery featuring private investigator Flavia Albia (after 2019’s A Capitol Death) finds Flavia in charge of her husband Tiberius’s construction business while he’s away dealing with a family illness. As part of her job, Flavia visits gardens bequeathed to the people of Rome by Julius Caesar, to check on the progress of a contract to dismantle a small grotto, where workers have unearthed some old scrolls, a find that may have some financial value. But Flavia’s look into whether the writings are legitimate is put aside after the grisly discovery of the nude, strangled body of Victoria Teria, who disappeared during a birthday celebration held for her husband, Cluventius, in the gardens a short time before. Cluventius’s subsequent doubts about the official inquiry’s effectiveness lead him to hire Flavia to find the murderer, who she learns has been preying on women in the gardens for years. The author’s trademark dry wit leavens the gruesomeness of the central plot. Davis convincingly sets a hunt for a serial killer in ancient Rome. (July)
From the Publisher
"The audacious Flavia Albia returns...this one ends with a surprising conclusion that will make fans adore Flavia even more, if that is possible." —Booklist
"Engrossing... Davis convincingly sets a hunt for a serial killer in ancient Rome." —Publishers Weekly
AUGUST 2020 - AudioFile
Jane Collingwood’s lovely alto voice is a perfect instrument for the charming and drily witty Flavia Albia, who can’t seem to stay home and behave herself when there is a murderer to bring to justice. Normally she wouldn’t go near the Grove of the Caesars, since prostitutes have been disappearing there for years. But when a highborn lady is murdered in the grove, the victim’s family asks her to investigate. Albia is soon convinced that there is a serial killer at work, and that the Vigiles have been ignoring his crimes for years. Collingwood’s Albia is smart, ironic, and immensely likable, and the cultural details and social politics of first-century Rome make a delicious backdrop for this skillfully written and engagingly performed detective novel. B.G. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine
