In the 13th of this popular series (Ode to a Banker, etc.), Davis takes her witty and thoroughly likable Roman PI to Britain in 75 A.D. to investigate vast cost overruns at Fishbourne, a huge palace under construction to reward a local chieftain (now king) for aiding imperial legions to conquer his own people. Reluctant to leave the comforts of Rome while his newly widowed sister is being harassed by an unsavory suitor and he is switching houses with his errant father, our hero is browbeaten into the mission by boorish Emperor Vespasian. The whole family Falco journeys across Gaul to Britain's "ghastly terrain... where pasty-faced tribes still had not learned what to do with the sponge on the stick at public latrines." This tongue-in-cheek view of life's challenges nearly 2,000 years ago includes clever dialogue and quick-paced encounters between sophisticated Romans, who "deplore barbarian cruelty we prefer to invent our own," and sullen locals, especially Great King Togidubnus, who wants to keep his own primitive hut as part of the new palace architecture. Eventually, Falco becomes a target as Romans and Brits fight over everything from women to missing building supplies. In a prolonged and chaotic final chase sequence, Falco and his cohorts run through sleazy brothels and bars searching for culprits responsible for the bodies in the bathhouses, and Davis leaves us laughing at how little life has changed over the millennia.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

A ship filled with fugitives hoping to escape their past and prisoners destined for transportation to a distant colony runs afoul of pirates who take them to the massive floating city of Armada, where they can start their miserable lives anew. As fugitive Bellis Coldwine strives to come to terms with the sudden change in her existence, she becomes aware of a sinister agenda by Armada's leaders, plans that could not only endanger the lives of the Armadans but alter the nature of reality as well. The award-winning author of Perdido Street Station returns to the distinctive fantasy landscape of New Crobuzon to explore new corners of a world in which science and magic blend into a seamless and frightening form of metaphysics. Mi ville's hauntingly evocative style and masterful storytelling place this tale of exploration, mystery, and discovery at the top of the genre and make it a priority purchase. Highly recommended.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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3.0 out of 5 stars Back to Britannia, Dec 31 2003

By	tertius3 (MI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Body in the Bathhouse (Paperback)

Falco revisits old haunts here, returning to Britain "five years" after the start of this series. In the interim he's had many far-flung adventures in increasingly domesticated situations.

The setting provides numerous opportunities for Davis to take jabs at her fellow Britons, while developing Falco's sleuthing after misbegotten building contractors-as if the caustic author were revenging herself on a bad personal experience. The first two-thirds of the story is more scornful witticisms than it is mysterious. Oh, right, there are some bodies falling from the scaffolding but what can you expect on an imperial construction site in barbarian Britannia? Falco has it easy for over 200 pages of banter with hardly a hint of suspense among the evident corruption. Davis is true to the modern archaeological finds at Fishbourne in that the construction of the royal palace hardly rises above its foundations. The story is more fun for its incidents and argot than plot and action. Falco's final apprehension of the miscreants makes little sense because it's so accidental. The slow pace of the first two-thirds of the story corroborates my previous suggestion that Davis, and Falco, are best when they stay close to Rome rather than gallivanting about the Empire into some provincial backwater like Palmyra, Corduba, or Britannia. This volume is not one of my favorites in the series.

This book should be read after Ode To A Banker because some issues and nefarious characters there continue here, along with Falco and his now familiar menagerie. Actually, this volume is the middle of a trilogy that concludes in The Jupiter Myth (still in hardback at this writing). The cover art on my pb copy (with the new circular mosaic theme) differs from that shown on Amazon.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Thoroughly enjoyable, Jun 20 2003

By	Nadine Harris (Rhode Island) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Lovely job. This one was just plain fun once it got started. It reads well. I don't think Ms. Davis' strength has ever been the puzzle. No one would mistake her for Agatha Christie. On the other hand, she's a lot more enjoyable to read. Yes, one could wish the mystery were tidied up better, but then the whole thing might not be so nicely spiced. As it is, I enjoyed myself hugely. (Note the wonderful "Briton" playright who gets by without royalties by being popular with the general public and hence sharing in the ticket sales. Several rather delicious references to a Vespasian-era Shakespeare. We were amused.)

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3.0 out of 5 stars Better in Rome, Sep 12 2002

By	ilmk "ilmk" (UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Body In The Bathhouse (Hardcover)

This latest offering from Lindsey Davis only confirms, I think, that, unlike JMR's Decius Caecilius Metellus, Marcus Didius Falco doesn't travel very well.
A return to Britain after the opening Silver Pigs novel was always going to be interesting but this one ends up firmly mired in the mud of the villa that is being built. You get the impression that there was so much potential, as Marcus and Helena followed their suspect builders, Glaucus and Cotta - from their appearance in 'One Virgin Too Many' - across Gaul to southern Britain, that Davis ended up with too many threads to this novel to neatly conclude. What should, perhaps, have been a larger novel suddenly got crammed. The other disappointment is that the murder mystery technique is weak so it is obvious pretty quickly who the murderer is before we end up on a race across the roof tiles.
Davis continues the character development as Maia is in tow, fleeing from an imaginary spy - though it is implied to be Anacrites - with Petronius Longus looking after the children (the funniest bit comes right at the end from Marcus' nephew as Marcus finally tracks down the hapless Glaucus and Cotta).
After a murder of the site manager, Falco works his way through the artisans and workers on the site, deals with some intricate local politics and eventually get his culprit.
Unfortunately, a ranking of Falco novels would place this somewhere near the bottom as the whole effort is rather muddied and obvious. I look forward to Falco returning to Rome where he is in his element.

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