Alexandria
Falco Series - Book XIX
by Lindsey Davis
Falco, his pregnant wife, Helena, and their two children are on vacation in Alexandria, staying with
his Uncle Fulvius. Just after their arrival, their host throws a dinner party. The most important guest
is Theon, the Librarian of Alexandria’s vast and famous library. The next day Theon is found dead in a
locked room in the library, and murder is soon proved to have been the cause of his demise. Who better
to call upon to look into the murder than newly arrived "foreigner" and Imperial Informer Falco?
Nineteen books and still counting, here is the latest opportunity to catch up with wisecracking shamus
Falco and his family, complete with rascally Pa and now his uncle, too. For me, the main attraction was
Ms Davis’ excellent descriptions of Alexandria and its library, seen through Falco’s wryly-observant eyes.
Earlier entries in the series have featured comic portraits of bankers, builders, thespians and tour
companies, and this one was about libraries and those who work in them and use them. As with most fiction
about Ancient Rome, running through the book was the theme of how akin we are to those who lived two
thousand years earlier—with plenty of corruption and boardroom shenanigans. But this, however
delightful and informative, is surely not the main reason for reading a work of detective fiction. By
the end of the book what was foremost on my mind was the rather mild and linear plot. Not that it was
not convoluted—it was—but despite the murders (plural), there was a feeling of much ado about
not a lot. This made the book fall flat, especially after the middle when nothing new was about to be
added to the mix. The sparkle present in the best entries in the series was lacking, and I had hoped to
hear more about Uncle Fulvius, but his role seemed to merely be that of host. Mildly entertaining, but
not one of the series’ best entries. |
The Book |
Century (Random House UK) |
5 February 2009 |
Hardback |
1846052874 / 9781846052873 |
Historical Mystery / 1st century AD Alexandria, Egypt |
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Excerpt |
NOTE: |
The Reviewer |
Rachel A Hyde |
Reviewed 2009 |
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