Another Review at MyShelf.Com

Publisher: Century (Random House UK)
Release Date: June 3, 2004
ISBN: 0712625879
Awards:  
Format Reviewed: Hardback
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Genre:   Historical Crime [AD 70, Ostia (near Rome)
Reviewed: 2004
Reviewer: Rachel A Hyde
Reviewer Notes:  
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Scandal Takes a Holiday
By Lindsey Davis

Lindsey Davis' bestselling Falco series shows no sign of waning in popularity, and the sleuth and his ever-increasing extended family is back for a sixteenth outing. This time they are in Ostia, where Falco is on a case to find a missing journalist who writes for Rome's Daily Gazette. But nobody wants to tell Falco about "Infamia," and soon his investigations are leading into dangerous waters and the so-called extinct world of piracy. It is looking as though Pompey did not get rid of all the pirates after all - but why would they want to kidnap a gossip columnist?

Events unroll at the usual pace, but while this is going on, you can find out more about Falco's family. This series has now reached the same stage as Elizabeth Peters' Amelia series, in that the characters seem like old friends, and meeting them in another book is rather like a family reunion. We finally find out why nobody is supposed to mention Uncle Fulvius, and we also get a very real-seeming picture of Falco straddling the two opposite worlds of the working and upper classes. Ostia comes to bustling, waterfront life, and it all comes together nicely, although this is not the paciest, funniest or most historically engaging entry in the series. Fans will read and enjoy.