Rating: 
Summary: A Hedonistically Great Read
Review: "Everyone always knows already that the dead man was a serial seducer who lied to political colleagues, ran up hefty debts at a brothel, deliberately farted in the Basilica, and was known by an obscene name behind his back."That quote numbers among many irreverent comments in THE ACCUSERS. If you have yet to meet Marcus Didius Falco and his wife, Helena Justina, you have a big treat in store. Lindsey Davis has created a first-rate pair of sleuths defending justice in the debauched Rome of the First Century. They have an outlook on life such that problems can be taken in stride, but pleasures are to be savored: "It was not often I had the beautiful pleasure of extortion from a relative. Life was good for an hour." In 75 A.D. accusers reaped a hefty fee for successful prosecution of individuals they chose to bring charges against. Therefore, fabricating a story, especially about a particularly unpopular citizen, could --- and often did --- bring high rewards. Pursuit of the truth didn't enter into the equation. One character quips, "Trials are not decided by evidence but arguments." Except for the blatant monetary incentive, it sounds much like the courts of today. Boasting clean togas, Falco and his associates pick up a case in the murders court. Their client isn't the first one to be accused of killing Gnaeus Rubirius Metellus. But someone seems to have tried to put it over as a suicide, which just doesn't wash with the accusers. Here's the rub: If Metellus did himself in, then his family would be forgiven the debt owed to the accusers from a prior corruption case. So proving he was murdered becomes a matter of money for the two inscrutable prosecutors. The ancient Romans demonstrate their decadence, greed, depravity and self-indulgence --- but, due to Falco and his team, also their humanity. Each day, Falco assembles his associates and divvies up the investigative tasks. There are many interviews to be conducted, lots of evidence to gather, truth to be sorted from lies. Their own client, the dead man's son, is not forthcoming, refusing to offer any explanation that might exonerate him. Obviously harboring a secret, he remains tight-lipped while Falco and his boys meticulously grill witnesses and chase leads. Meanwhile, Helena Justina quietly hunts for clues with her own technique, which involves using her feminine wiles and devious ways. At the end of the day, they all compare notes over family dinner with their two daughters and their dog Nux. Even the mothers-in-law get into the act. Despite a few bumps in the road, they ferret out the answers. Just the cast of principal characters, described in a witty two-page list at the beginning of the book, sets the humor of the book --- and serves the double purpose of helping you keep track of the couple dozen players with multiple long names. Full of murder, mayhem and riotous corruption, THE ACCUSERS is a hedonistically great read. --- Reviewed by Kate Ayers
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Summary: Falco and the lawyers
Review: After skewering various professions in her previous Falco novels, Ms. Davis has finally gotten around to getting even with lawyers! As a lawyer myself I laughed uproariously at some of the antics of these "gentlemen of the bar". Even though this work takes place almost two thousand years ago, I easily recognized some of the legal types in it as folks I can encounter almost every day in court. The work reminds me of the Rumpole books, although there is more emphasis on the investigation aspect of the case than the legal side. It's very well-written, as I've come to expect of this series, and full of red herrings and twists and turns for the reader. I hope that Falco makes a very long career in Rome, and that we, his faithful readers, get to read all about that career!
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Summary: Courtroom drama
Review: Ah, it's wonderful to be back in sunny, familiar ancient Rome again, after the last two Davis books where we've been "exiled" to bleak and blustery Britain. Here, murder is again subtle and surrounded by the power plays of the rich and elegant rather than the muddy connivings of barbarians. The historical (textual) richness of Rome is given full play to produce one of Davis' best stories of Falco, informer to the emperor.
In Falco's hobnailed boots, you'll cross and recross Rome (there are handy maps), from dives to courts (not much difference there!, Davis would say), ferret out recalcitrant witnesses and suspects, smell the stench of corpses, suborn informants, suffer goon attacks, fence with devious lawyers, loose your shirt, and be rescued by smart wife Helena--and not just once. Davis leads off with unusually rough language for her. There are delicious ironies scattered through the story: the guilty getting off, the implication of innocents, the unscrupulous rewarded, foul murder excused, rich scions bankrupted--ah, the Roman Forum at work to maintain Senatorial probity.
This story enters deeply into the snares of patriarchical Roman inheritance law. Unsuspecting Falco takes an involved family case of inheritance, suicide, and malfeasance, ranged against two far cleverer and wilier lawyers. Suitably, Davis has a striking change of style for this book. She adds the apparatus of law and deposition to Falco's usual investigations into the underworld or seamy side of Rome. Several times Davis merely summarizes on wax tablets (uh, casebooks) the results of the endless background interviews by Falco and Associates, rather than bore us to tears. Then she presents the entire speeches made before the judge. They read like actual speeches by an advocate like Cicero, full of flourishes and clever rhetorical devices, to insinuate scandalous guilt in the absence of real evidence. What makes this a 5-star story is the ending, one surprise after another, and still more twists follow. (One hint: keep track of the little children.) Superb.
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Summary: YEAH ANOTHER FALCO!
Review: AS USUAL MS. DAVIS COMBINES REALITY AND HUMOR TO MAKE HER BOY FALCO THE LOVEABLE SLIMY INFORMER/DETECTIVE HE IS. WITH CHARACTERISTIC HUMOR/FACTS/SARCASM/SURREALISM SHE WRITES ANOTHER AWESOME PLOT TO ADD TO ANOTHER AWESOME SERIES. KUDOS TO LINDSEY. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK. EVERY FALCO IS A TREAT. I DO HOPE SHE IS THINKING OF DOING A POSSIBLE SERIES ON HER BOY PETRONIUS LONGIUS. AT LEAST HAVE HIM MARRY FALCO'S SISTER AND BRING HIS DAUGHTER BACK TO ROME. NOW THAT WOULD BE A COOL PLOT. HOWEVER, I GATHERED FROM INFERENCES THROUGHOUT THIS ONE, THAT SHE WAS TOYING WITH HER NEXT PLOT AND GIVING US A GLIMPSE OF WHAT IT COULD BE. I GUESS I CAN SAY I FELT REALLY SORRY FOR THAT NEGRO WHATEVER DUDE. I HOPE SHE WRITES MORE ON HIM.
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Summary: Superior Roman legal thriller
Review: Back in Rome after an extended stay in Roman Britain, informer Marcus Didius Falco and his young brother-in-laws attempt to restart his business tracking down information, assisting in lawsuits, and generally taking advantage of the state of Roman society. Falco gets involved in a case almost by accident--a lawsuit followed by a botched suicide leads to multiple accusations of murder. And all of a sudden, the dead man's son is looking to Falco as his only defender. To get the young man off the charge of murdering his own father, Falco needs a better alternative and one is readily at hand. His client's mother hated the dead man, is busy accusing her son, and has motive, opportunity, and knowledge of poisons. Falco becomes emeshed in a murder case that he brings against the woman. But if he's wrong, or fails to prove his case, he doesn't just lose. The injured parties will come after him and his meager assets. And his opponents are two of the sharpest lawyers first century Rome has to offer. Author Lindsey Davis combines action, history, and courtroom tactics into a compelling and fascinating story. Falco is a bit of a film-noir type hard-edged private eye but he's forced to take the stand in this case and also to decide where his ethics lie. Davis's depictions of 1st Century Imperial Rome are crystal-clear and accurate (as far as my History minor lets me remember) but her research never intrudes into the story. THE ACCUSERS is a welcome addition to a fine series. Recommended.
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Summary: Falco tangles with the courts
Review: Falco and friends are back in Rome. The partnership seems to be settling down into a defined pattern, as Falco slowly evolves from solo detective/agent into a respectible middle-class businessman and husband.
The novel is really more of a legal drama than the usual Falco detective adventure. In many ways, it is the story of a couple of high-roller lawyers who are fleecing an unlucky Senator and his family, and decide to use Falco as a sacrificial goat. Falco is out of his depth, and he knows it. But unfortunately for him, he's never been one to just stand by when someone else is being abused.
Fortunately, there is no sign of the forced tension between Falco and Petro and Falco and Helena that marred The Jupiter Myth. The characters once more appear to be their natural selves.
This was a good book, but it didn't quite have the sparkle that the best Falco books have had. The missing element was the offbeat wild card characters that usually make these books so fun. There were no exotic snake charmers or troops of actors or such. Even Falco's relatives were fairly dull and conventional.
I think Davis is still trying to find her way to writing about the new, respectible Falco. The character had to develop, but the problem is that now that he has developed she's not sure what to do with him.
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Summary: Alas, No More Sacred Geese & Chickens?
Review: Falco gets involved in court cases centered on a family secret so potentially devastating that it could cause Falco to lose his own hard-earned status. Helena's family members are active in resolving these cases, so it appears that we readers will have the pleasure of seeing more of them in future books in the series.
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Summary: Can only be accused of brilliance
Review: Falco's back in Rome in this latest installment and after his two-novel trip to southern Britain he seems all the better for it as he strolls round his old haunting ground with some alacrity. A fast paced, excellently written novel, Davis has restored the faith that was beginning to wane after the previous 'Bathhouse' and 'Jupiter'.
The Accusers finds our erstwhile detective being called upon by one of his informing peers who, having secured the conviction for bribery of one Gnaeus Rubirius Metellus during his son's (Metellus Negrinus) tenure as aedile, finds himself cheated out of his 25 percent fee by the convict's subsequent apparent suicide. Silius Italicus refuses to believe this and hires Falco & Associates to check out the facts.
With the Camillii in tow Davis gives us a quick report of the investigation in a format that in entirely new to her writing - a glimpse at Falco's written casebook where details of the suspects are given, leading to a subsequent confession by a herbalist that Metellus Rubirius' eldest daughter, Rubiria Juliana, (there is also the somewhat optimistically naive, Rubiria Carina) had given her father gold coated hemlock pills on the basis the gold would not dissolve and thus prevent release of the poison. However, the gold had failed in its task and as such the conclusion was accidental death. Coming so quickly it is obvious that there is a far more deeper plot, but a desire for funds means that Falco doesn't dig deeper until well after Saturnalia at which point he discovers that Silius has commenced prosecution for murder against Juliana. This also falls apart and eventually we come to the main plot which is Falco's defence of Metellus Negrinus for parricide against both Silius and Paccius countered by his own accusation against Rubirius Metellus's wife, Calpurnia Cara
What follows is an enjoyable exercise in sleuthing as Falco, ably assisted by the Camillii, works his way through a list of suspects as long as your arm and familial collusion that prevents much of the truth from being outed. Having to figure out where Negrinus' (not so fondly known as 'Birdy') attachments to his ex-wife, Saffia Donata (also an ex-wife of his best friend Lucius Licinius Lutea) and the multitude of surviving children actually lie proves a headache as Falco uncovers corruption, scandal and major blackmail.
Eventually, half snippets of information and tracking down of various slaves and tradesmen and a soothsayer leads Falco to the eventual triple denouement as he hauls the entire Metelli family into a sitting room to unravel a web of deceit and lies simply to protect a family name that is as spectacular as it is brilliantly exposed.
The finest moment of the novel has a rendition of Falco's speech in the murder courts where Davis has a chance to pit her rhetorical oratory against the surviving greats of Roman speech-making (Cicero being the obvious) and, inevitably comes nowhere near them. However, in good humour, Falco's correct slander of the prosecutors, Italicus and Africanus and their own seedy history proves a delightful episode and his subsequent own blackmail of The Accusers allows him pecuniary redress.
Lindsey Davis fifteenth Falco novel finds him back on home territory and we settle easily back in to the comfort that is Imperial Rome (though Davis does explore some new writing styles to keep it fresh) with an alacrity that was missing from the preceding two efforts. Falco has certainly aged through his career and his informing is genuinely reflecting his social position and experience. Preferring to leave the physical side of matters to Aelianus and Justinus, he can spend more time thinking out the solution and the development of Falco & Asscociates works well.
As ever, a must-read.
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Summary: Another Great Mystery of Ancient Rome!
Review: I seldom read fiction but I make exceptions for some science fiction and very rarely mysteries (my wife is an avid mystery reader and so I get my pick). In these genres I only read works by authors whom I consider to be good writers and that fit my interests in history and science. I realize that this may sound a bit high-handed and arrogant, but I only have a limited amount of time for recreational reading and so have to pick and choose. Lindsey Davis is one of those authors that always fits my standards. Anything written by her is sure to be a good read and is always thought provoking.
In her recent book (2003) "The Accusers" she has not disappointed me. Her knowledge of the culture of ancient Rome of Vespasian's time is astounding, at least as far as I can tell. The informer Marcus Didius Falco, his indomitable patrician wife Helena Justina, their various relatives, associates and enemies round out a group worthy of a Russian novel.
In "The Accusers" a Roman citizen, beset with legal problems, apparently commits suicide at the urging of his wife and possible collusion of his daughter (suicide would cut back on the liability of the family and save the family fortune, which in another twist has been left not to the man's wife, but to his daughter-in-law!) As it becomes evident that the death was murder, his son Negrinus becomes an easy target of those would profit by the murder. Falco and Associates (Falco's wife and her two brothers are the staff) take on the defense of Negrinus (also known as "Birdy"), who they realize is hiding something. As one might suspect, that secret is the key to the death of the father. By the time you read a few pages you are hooked and want to read more.
For me this is the best of mystery writing. I recommend it heartily.
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Summary: witty look at Ancient Rome
Review: In 75 AD, Roman Informant Marcus Didius Falco, his wife Helena, their two perfect children and Nux the mutt (who like the humans treat Falco like a dumb pet) return home after spending time in Londinium (see THE JUPITER MYTH). The trip leaves Falco broke so though he is normally a very principled informant he reluctantly accepts as clients two shyster lawyers Paccius Africanus and Silius Italicus though he detests doing so. They hire him to find evidence on whether wealthy senator Rubirius Metellus peddled appointments. Falco's work leads to the conviction of the arrogant Metellus', but not long afterward, the odious politician is poisoned; officialdom rules death by suicide. Fearing loss of income and subsequent lifestyle due to the tricky quirky inheritance laws, Metellus' family hires Falco to make inquiries into his death. However, Falco soon finds a legion of individuals including his new clients and their servants with strong motives to kill the malicious Metellus. The private investigation takes a back seat to a witty look at Ancient Rome as readers gain much insight (especially when compared with visiting Brit Albia) into the Falco family and the Metellus household. Falco is a fine tour guide who takes readers on quite a trek around Rome not always the tourist sights while solving the mystery of Metellus' abuse of power followed by finding the killer. Fans will appreciate this insightful historical mystery that retains the series trade mark fresh look at the first century. Harriet Klausner
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