One Virgin Too Many by Lindsey Davis

The setting here is Rome in the 1st century CE. Vespasian is emperor, and making his way as best he can through the political intrigue of the world of the Caesars is informer and investigator Marcus Didius Falco. Falco is just back from Tripoli, where his work earned him the good graces of the emperor, but saw his brother-in-law devoured by a lion in the arena. This latter fact does not stand Falco in good stead with his family. Matters become more complicated when a young girl from a powerful family shows up at Falco’s home and says that someone in her family is trying to kill her. Then she disappears. More family complications ensue when the brother of Falco’s lover stumbles across a dead body and the crime is apparently being hushed up by the Roman priests. Falco’s commitment to justice and an unwillingness to let things lie put him in danger of execution for violating the temple of the Vestal Virgins, but with the help of his friends, relatives, and his sometime rival Anacrites, Vespasian’s chief spy, Falco brings the case to a successful close.

Davis’s Falco series is noted for its humor and for the author’s understanding of Roman life and customs. Falco sometimes comes across as a hard-boiled detective dropped into ancient Rome, but once you are beyond that, the smells and sounds and daily rituals of Imperial Rome are all drawn in compelling detail. These books are fast-paced and action oriented, and offer a fine counterpoint to Steven Saylor’s more introspective Roma Sub Rosa series.

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