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Londinium, August AD 75. A man is found drowned in the well of a rather disreputable drinking establishment. (Dig a hole in the ground, put in an empty German wine barrel, et voila, a well). Falco and Helena are relaxing at the home of Helena's Uncle Hilaris, the Procurator of Finance in Britain when the body is found, so, of course, Falco is called in. He identifies the body as the disgraced architect, whom he theoretically exiled to Gaul (see THE BODY IN THE BATHHOUSE). King Togidubnus has to be notified and Falco hopes to have the murderer in hand before he arrives, but Londinium is a mess. The legions have gotten lazy. There are no vigiles to keep order. Gangsters from Rome are moving in to fleece the citizens. Petronius and Falco have no help from the resident Roman soldiers. Davis seamlessly weaves the past and future history of London into the story without slowing the pace of the narrative. Falco had been a member of the disgraced 2nd Legio 15 years before when the legendary Boudica lead the Icenii in rebellion. He reminisces about the past and how London has grown to be a major base for Rome and not merely the provincial capital it had been the last time he was there. Falco has most of his family with him. His wife and children, Nux the dog who adopted him about the same time Helena Justina agreed to live with him, his sister Maia and her four children and Petronius, his friend, and hopefully, Maia's next husband. (Maia's first husband had been eaten by a lion, She doesn't know how he died.) The sounds and smells of ancient London come alive and Falco and Petro solve the murders with their usual panache in an almost accidental manner. 14 years have passed since Davis published THE SILVER PIGS, the first book in the series, in which Falco first returns to England as an investigator for Vespasian and where he first meets Helena, but only about 5 or 6 years have passed in Ancient Rome. The basic research of the series is sound. Davis has said "This is the one where travelling to do the research was particularly costly, time-consuming and exotic!" I wonder how much a season pass to the Museum of London costs?
Reviewed by Barbara Franchi, August 2003
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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