The Ides of April

[GhostOfClayton]

According to her website, Lindsey Davis' next book (entitled 'The Ides of April') will be the start of a new series.

 

First of a new series of crime novels set in Ancient Rome and featuring Flavia Albia, the adopted daughter of much-loved Marcus Didius Falco.

 

Based on real historical events: mysterious poisonings, in which victims died, often unaware they had been attacked. Albia is now 28 and an established female investigator. Her personal history and her British birth enable her to view Roman society and its traditions as a bemused outsider and also as a woman struggling for independence in a man

[Crispina]

Oh wow. I thought Lindsey Davis said she would not write another Falco novel - ever. And a whole new series? Can't wait. But now I must review Flavia Albia's story! Was she the girl found on the streets by Marcus? she was born in Britain? I wish now that I would have purchased the entire Didius Falco book series, instead I found them all at the library which was a good thing; but having them all in my own library would be great. Perhaps I will begin by buying one or two a month.

 

Thanks for the heads up Ghost.

[Crispina]

I remember now. In the last book it was strongly hinted that she would strike out on her own as an informer.

[GhostOfClayton]

With Flavia Albia being British born (as stated on Lindsey Davis' wiki page), I suspect I haven't come across her yet. Presumably she appears in A Body in the Bath House, or The Jupiter Myth. At least I'll be able to get in on this one at the ground floor.

[Crispina]

With Flavia Albia being British born (as stated on Lindsey Davis' wiki page), I suspect I haven't come across her yet. Presumably she appears in A Body in the Bath House, or The Jupiter Myth. At least I'll be able to get in on this one at the ground floor.

 

 

Oh sorry, didn't mean to post spoilers. I can't recall in which book she makes her appearance but I do have a source reference - "Falco - The Official Companion" which is the only book I actually did purchase. I will sneak a peek.

[GhostOfClayton]

It's worth reawakening this thread.  There was a second Flavia Albia novel 'Enemies at Home', and the third 'Deadly Election' is fresh out.

 

Here's my review of The Ides of April audiobook that I posted on www.audible.com:

 

 

 "A little suspension of disbelief"

 

It’s different antagonist in a different time. There’s a different emperor on the throne, and his paranoia bleeds through to the day to day life of Rome’s 1st Century inhabitants. Davis has to work hard to convince the reader that it’s credible for a young woman to succeed in the very masculine world of her father during these troubled times, but through a combination of her great skill as a writer, and a small degree of suspended disbelief on the audience’s part, we soon settle in and start to enjoy the ride. It DOES work. You DO believe the characters. You CAN believe the plot. Who’d’ve thunk it? All in all, though this first Flavia Albia novel is a little of a faltering start to the series, but anyone who has been with Falco from the word ‘go’ will trust that this is just a settling in period, and all will be back to the usual excellence, come the next outing.

Helping us into this new Rome is the perfectly formed voice of Lucy Brown. It's a joy to listen to, and (if I'm honest), I'm just a little bit in love with those dulcet tones. However, it's just a little too perfect for a first person narrative by a London street child. Lacks that streetwise edge I imagine Albia to have. You can't have everything.