Venus In Copper
(Marco Didius Falco: book III): another gripping foray into the crime and corruption of Ancient Rome from bestselling author Lindsey Davis
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4.4 • 17 Ratings
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- £3.99
Publisher Description
'Another redolent dip into corruption in Vespasian's Rome. . . original and delightful' Sunday Times
'Fast-moving, funny and full of atmosphere' Mail on Sunday
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MARRY IN HASTE. DIE FOR THE MONEY.
Things are going well for Marcus Didius Falco, ancient Rome's investigator: he hates sharing a cell with a rodent, although being bailed by his old mother is almost as embarrassing; his highborn girlfriend can't decide if she wants him and Titus Caesar's reward for past services is disappointing to say the least.
Hoping for a better life, or at least a better apartment, he takes on new clients.
On the elegant slopes of the Pincian Hill, three freedmen with two flashy wives are under siege by a clever redhead. Severina Zotica has a foul-mouthed parrot, an odd connection with a snake dancer - and a very suspicious past.
As he pursues this flame-haired fortune-hunter, Falco finds himself beset by violent rent-racketeers, poisoners, and women without consciences who have dangerous designs on him. . .
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Readers Love Lindsey Davis:
'Exceptionally well crafted - keeps you guessing right until the end'
'Lindsey Davis never fails!'
'I started reading it the moment it arrived, and finished it by the same evening. Just Brilliant!'
'There are not adjectives fulsome enough to describe how good these books are'
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Ave Marcus Didius Falco! Once again Imperial Rome's wisecracking private investigator splendidly incarnates his time and placeas he uncovers a real estate development scam that proves the slum landlord is a long-established species. Fans of Silver Pigs and Shadows in Bronze will happily find Falco still sparring and making up with Helena Justina, the divorced daughter of a senator, carousing with his friend Petronius, captain of the Aventine Watch, obstructing his arch-enemy Anacrites, the Emperor Vespasian's chief spy, and trying to keep his mother and sisters at a comfortable distance. Here Falco is hired by two of the Hortensii, a group of freed slaves who have parlayed the legacy of their former owner into a fortune (which they display to vulgar excess), to investigate the thrice-widowed fiancee of one of their members. While Falco tries to prove that Severina Zotica has murdered her previous husbands, her betrothed is poisoned at a dinner with a notoriously unscrupulous developer and the detective must dig for other motives. Arson, evictions, skyrocketing rents, layered mortgage deals, another murder, near death for Helena and a brutal beating for himself spur Falco to ferret out the truth about the Hortensii and Severina. Period details, humor and Falco's modern sensibility add up to another sterling performance from Davis.
