Marcus Didius Falco

[CiceroD]

Hey Im looking out for other Falco fans (since there are none Ive met in daily life).

Has anyone read "Scandal Takes a Holiday" or "See Delphi and Die"?

 

For the uninitiated these are mystery novels by Lindsey Davis that take place in Ancient Rome.

 

It centers around one Private eye (private informer) named Marcus Didius Falco.

there funny witty and enjoyable. But I havent yet bought the next two. So how are they?

[phil25]

CiceroD - I am a great fan of these books.

 

I bought the first one - "Silver Pigs" when it was first issued and loved the characters and idea at once. I love the mix of solid research, believable extrapolation and wit (parallels with modern life, raymond Chandler-type fiction etc etc).

 

I haven't caught up with the latest - though they are on my shelves apart from Delphi, which I have not yet bought.

 

I have been to so many of the places that Davis describes - not only in Rome but elsewhere (Petra, Pompeii, Palmyra) and her writing brings them to life.

 

Recommended to anyone who has not yet found them.

 

Phil

[CiceroD]

I especially love how she writes from a genuine Roman perspective (to a point).

 

For instance how Falco's view of women is very modern. His view of Christians, on the other hand, as weirdos was accurate. To the pre- Constantine Ancient Romans, Christians were weirdos.

[DecimusCaesar]

There is a film I believe based on the Marcus Didius Falco books, I saw it back in the 90's one night.

I don't remember much of it, except Marcus Didius Falco was followed by a German Gladiator. The film was on at about 3 or 4:00 AM and I was very tired so I did not see all of it.

 

Have you seen the film?

 

Here is a link:

 

 

Age of Treason

 

By the way is it based on one of the books from the series or is it an individual story that was put to film?

[CiceroD]

I would think that it is its own story. According to wikipedia Age of Treasonhas been disowned by Lindsey Davis because it doesnt really follow the details of the books.

 

Sorry I dont know how to make a link

but wikipedia 'Marcus Didus Falco' and you'll find it.

 

I havent seen it DecimusCaesar was it good? was Helena in it?

 

keep me posted

[Augustus Caesar]

Hi CiceroD

 

I've read all but the Delphi novel in order over the last two years and they are superbly written novels with excellent tales. Falco is a great character with a very understanding girlfriend, a family of his own and a dog called Nux. Great name that one. I like the mix of fiction and non-fiction - Lindsey Davis makes the stories almost real.

 

About the 'film'... here's a snatch from her own site at http://www.lindseydavis.co.uk...

 

"The Age of Treason. Columbia TV bought, for a very modest sum, rights to 'The Silver Pigs'. This was years ago, when neither Falco nor I were famous. I was persuaded that the producer liked my books for the reasons that made them distinctive, but when I saw the script it lacked my title, plot, dialogue, narrative style, narrative attitude, view of women, view of men, irony, and period authenticity. The only scene I recognised was from a book to which Columbia never owned the rights. I wrote and said what I thought; my name was taken off the film. I have never seen it. This film's existence had the advantage off holding of competing offers. I made it known that I seriously regretted the distress caused to my readers and that only if I was promised better would the rights ever be sold again.

 

Note: film rights to 'The Course of Honour' remain with me."

 

So there you have it. The BBC did have an option of a TV series but that has elapsed and LD is not over confident of a renewal. Go to the link above and look under Film Rights on the left menu.

 

What about Simon Scarrow's novels based around Macro and Cato? You read any of them yet? They're better again, if that's possible, in their own right.

Edited October 23, 2006 by Augustus Caesar

[phil25]

Age of Treason is not the worst fil ever made, but equally, it's similarity to the book is almost non-existant. I have a tape of it somewhere which i recorded when it was on TV.

 

I seem to recall a female gladiator!!

 

A TV series would be great, but to be done properly a la Miss Marple?Morse with the production quality and really good casting would need a budget the size of Rome. I don't think the print series is yet successful enough to warrant that. Even the Cadfael series of films petered out quite quickly and without all the books having been filmed.

 

Phil

[DecimusCaesar]

I havent seen it DecimusCaesar was it good? was Helena in it?

 

I don't remember much of it as I saw it late at night back in the late 90s (perhaps 1998 or 1999). All I remember from it was that Marcus Didius Falco was followed around by a big German Gladiator and that he had a thick australian accent. I'm not sure if I saw all of it.

[CiceroD]

personally I dont think a TV show could ever really do Falco justice

unless he narrates the whole thing!

 

also producing somthing in Ancient Rome is not cheap!

personally I would be willing to wait until CGI gets cheaper and better before I get to see Falco's Rome

 

I would also be afraid of what would be lost in adaptation

[CiceroD]

what do you guys think?

[Gaius Paulinus Maximus]

I've read all the Simon Scarrow novels and think that they are great.

has anyone read any of Simon Scarrow's novels about Gordianus The Finder, he's a private detective in ancient Rome during the late republic, i would highly recommend these to fans of Roman novels

[CiceroD]

When did these Gordianus novels come out?

 

was it before or after Falco?

 

It really doesnt matter if the concept of an ancient roman sleuth isnt original

as long as they're good reading.

 

but

 

Im still curious

[phil25]

I THINK Davis was the first, but several series emerged close together. In an essay in The Mammoth Book of Roman Whodunnits (ed Mike Ashley) Steven Saylor confirms this. Davis first book was published 1987 and saylor found it a few days after submitting the manuscript of his first Gordianus novel.

 

NOTE: The Gordianus books are actually by Steven Saylor, NOT by Scarrow.

 

There is another series under the group title SPQR by John Maddox Roberts (I had copies of some as US imports but lent them to a friend). These began in 1990

 

There is also a series by David Wishart, and yet another set in Glevum, Roman Britain by Rosemary Rowe.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Phil

[Gaius Paulinus Maximus]

NOTE: The Gordianus books are actually by Steven Saylor, NOT by Scarrow.

 

 

Haha thanks for that Phil, ofcourse they were by Saylor, i was in a bit of a rush when writing it and didn't bother to check it.....sorry :bag:

 

I've got all the books in the "Roma Sub Rosa" series aswell as the "Eagle" Series by Scarrow both of which are excellent historical novels.

 

Would you recommend the "SPQR" series Phil ?, i've had a look at them but am not so sure wether i fancy them that much.

[Marcus Caelius]

Would you recommend the "SPQR" series Phil ?, i've had a look at them but am not so sure wether i fancy them that much.

 

I'm not Phil, but I would recommend them. I just finished #9 (The Princess and the Pirates) which, so far, is the weakest of the series and takes place sometime after Pompey defeated the pirates, and sometime before the Rubicon. The series is lighter in tone than Saylor's but slightly more serious than Davis'. Also, the protagonist is the eldest son of a senatorial-rank family attempting to maintain its position, so the perspective is somewhat different from the other series (in fact, he marries a fictional niece of Caesar, whom he can't stand).