Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: The Accusers: A Marcus Didius Falco Mystery Novel by Lindsey Davis ISBN: 0-89296-811-7 Publisher: Mysterious Press Pub. Date: 22 April, 2004 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.71 (7 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Superior Roman legal thriller
Comment: Back in Rome after an extended stay in Roman Britain, informer Marcus Didius Falco and his young brother-in-laws attempt to restart his business tracking down information, assisting in lawsuits, and generally taking advantage of the state of Roman society. Falco gets involved in a case almost by accident--a lawsuit followed by a botched suicide leads to multiple accusations of murder. And all of a sudden, the dead man's son is looking to Falco as his only defender.
To get the young man off the charge of murdering his own father, Falco needs a better alternative and one is readily at hand. His client's mother hated the dead man, is busy accusing her son, and has motive, opportunity, and knowledge of poisons. Falco becomes emeshed in a murder case that he brings against the woman. But if he's wrong, or fails to prove his case, he doesn't just lose. The injured parties will come after him and his meager assets. And his opponents are two of the sharpest lawyers first century Rome has to offer.
Author Lindsey Davis combines action, history, and courtroom tactics into a compelling and fascinating story. Falco is a bit of a film-noir type hard-edged private eye but he's forced to take the stand in this case and also to decide where his ethics lie. Davis's depictions of 1st Century Imperial Rome are crystal-clear and accurate (as far as my History minor lets me remember) but her research never intrudes into the story.
THE ACCUSERS is a welcome addition to a fine series. Recommended.
Rating: 5
Summary: Roman Romp
Comment: In THE ACCUSERS Rubirius Metellus, a Roman senator who had recently been convicted of corruption, is dead. But did he commit honorable suicide or was he murdered? Marcus Didius Falco has to find out. There are all kinds of twists and turns in this Roman romp of a mystery before all the answers are revealed.
A friend recommended I read the Falco mysteries, but I resisted for a long time, because frankly too many books and so little time. But I'm really glad I did. This is my second Falco; I read the first one, THE SILVER PIGS. I plan on reading all of the ones in-between that one and this latest. Lindsey Davis's writing style is lively, rapid-fire wit. Falco, her creation, is the perfect Roman everyman. He speaks with a world-weary humor but this, of course, covers up his still idealistic soul. An informer cannot afford anything like idealism. And his relatives! Ay! Sometimes they are trying on Falco's nerves, but they wonderfully fun individuals and Falco's interaction with them is hilarious. I think we all have relatives like this.
The Falco mysteries set in the Rome of the Emperor Vespasian, in my experience, have been a Roman holiday.
Rating: 5
Summary: A Hedonistically Great Read
Comment: "Everyone always knows already that the dead man was a serial seducer who lied to political colleagues, ran up hefty debts at a brothel, deliberately farted in the Basilica, and was known by an obscene name behind his back."
That quote numbers among many irreverent comments in THE ACCUSERS. If you have yet to meet Marcus Didius Falco and his wife, Helena Justina, you have a big treat in store. Lindsey Davis has created a first-rate pair of sleuths defending justice in the debauched Rome of the First Century. They have an outlook on life such that problems can be taken in stride, but pleasures are to be savored: "It was not often I had the beautiful pleasure of extortion from a relative. Life was good for an hour."
In 75 A.D. accusers reaped a hefty fee for successful prosecution of individuals they chose to bring charges against. Therefore, fabricating a story, especially about a particularly unpopular citizen, could --- and often did --- bring high rewards. Pursuit of the truth didn't enter into the equation. One character quips, "Trials are not decided by evidence but arguments." Except for the blatant monetary incentive, it sounds much like the courts of today.
Boasting clean togas, Falco and his associates pick up a case in the murders court. Their client isn't the first one to be accused of killing Gnaeus Rubirius Metellus. But someone seems to have tried to put it over as a suicide, which just doesn't wash with the accusers. Here's the rub: If Metellus did himself in, then his family would be forgiven the debt owed to the accusers from a prior corruption case. So proving he was murdered becomes a matter of money for the two inscrutable prosecutors. The ancient Romans demonstrate their decadence, greed, depravity and self-indulgence --- but, due to Falco and his team, also their humanity.
Each day, Falco assembles his associates and divvies up the investigative tasks. There are many interviews to be conducted, lots of evidence to gather, truth to be sorted from lies. Their own client, the dead man's son, is not forthcoming, refusing to offer any explanation that might exonerate him. Obviously harboring a secret, he remains tight-lipped while Falco and his boys meticulously grill witnesses and chase leads. Meanwhile, Helena Justina quietly hunts for clues with her own technique, which involves using her feminine wiles and devious ways. At the end of the day, they all compare notes over family dinner with their two daughters and their dog Nux. Even the mothers-in-law get into the act. Despite a few bumps in the road, they ferret out the answers.
Just the cast of principal characters, described in a witty two-page list at the beginning of the book, sets the humor of the book --- and serves the double purpose of helping you keep track of the couple dozen players with multiple long names. Full of murder, mayhem and riotous corruption, THE ACCUSERS is a hedonistically great read.
--- Reviewed by Kate Ayers
 |
Title: The Jupiter Myth by Lindsey Davis ISBN: 0892967773 Publisher: Mysterious Press Pub. Date: 23 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
 |
Title: The Judgment of Caesar by Steven Saylor ISBN: 0312271190 Publisher: St. Martin's Minotaur Pub. Date: 01 June, 2004 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
 |
Title: The River God's Vengeance (Decius Metellus, 8) by John Maddox Roberts ISBN: 0312323190 Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books Pub. Date: 01 January, 2004 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
 |
Title: Ovid: A Marcus Corvinus Mystery (Marcus Corvinus Mysteries) by David Wishart ISBN: 0340646837 Publisher: New English Library Pub. Date: 01 January, 2002 List Price(USD): $9.99 |
 |
Title: Guardian of the Horizon (PETERS, ELIZABETH) by Elizabeth Peters ISBN: 0066214718 Publisher: William Morrow & Company Pub. Date: March, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
