A Body In The Bath House
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Amazon.co.uk Review
It's a close-run thing. Two authors have made a speciality of brilliantly researched and highly atmospheric thrillers set in ancient Rome. Lindsey Davis is currently ahead on points, and the latest Falco thriller, A Body in the Bath House, is quite the most diverting entry in the series yet. Steven Saylor's Gordianus the Finder series will have to scrabble to maintain this level. The highly impressive sleight-of-hand that Davis is so adept at is just as much in evidence here as in such previous entries in the series as Ode to a Banker: while the sights, sound and smells of ancient Rome are conjured up with a truly pungent verisimilitude, Falco's modern sensibility never jars, and this Philip Marlowe of the ancient world remains a perfect conduit for the reader.
Cleverly extrapolating current fads, Davis demonstrates that even in AD 75 a passion for home improvement has gripped the Roman Empire. Falco is losing patience dealing with two cowboy builders who have been wreaking havoc on his bath house, but after the contract is finished, Falco and his father investigate hideous smells and find grisly human remains on the site. Simultaneously, in the primitive outpost of the Empire that is Britain, King Togidubnus is creating a spectacular new palace, but murderous accidents and corruption are bedevilling the project. Rome's Emperor Vespasian sends Falco to sort out the trouble, and this gives Falco a chance to escape from his dangerous feud with a Roman spy. Needless to say, as he penetrates to the heart of the mystery in Britain, his own life is (as usual) soon on the line with an implacable killer on his trail.
One would have thought that the law of diminishing returns would have kicked in by now, but this series goes from strength to strength. Taking up a Falco novel is an entrée into a world that is always colourful, always fascinating and always dangerous. --Barry Forshaw --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Review
"This book is a delight for Falco fans and will strike a chord with anyone who has endured builders in their home." -- "Telegraph"
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
37 of 38 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I have read all of Lindesy Davis' books, and while I thought the early ones were genuinely entertaining, well researched and engrossing (detailed plot-lines and characters that are really appealing), I did find the 3 prior to "Body in the Bathhouse" disappointing. The charm and energy of the earlier ones was not there, and instead there was a feeling that she was almost going through the motions. Over-complicated plot, Falco and Helena's affair verging on the staid and uninteresting... This book, however, gripped me from the start. The characters are as believable (and incredible!) as ever, and taking the story to Britain works. Helena's brothers are in the limelight (the reader is,as usual, ready to kill Aelianus) and corruption flourishes. I can thoroughly recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed "The Silver Pigs".
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Perhaps not the best of the Falco stories, but one in which the characters come more and more alive. Petro, despite only appearing for a few pages, is more appealing than ever, and the will-he-won't-he story with Maia is just one of many captivating sidelines to the main story. What starts out as a simple body in the bath house becomes much more when Falco makes his way to Britain to investigate wrongdoings at Fishbourne Palace. As ever, meticulously researched with locations that really bring the period to life. At the centre of it all, Falco and Helena always trying to make sense of everything around them. OK, so maybe not the best, but I still had to read it all in one sitting. Highly recommended. I only hope that one day Anacrites really gets what's coming to him.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I had been waiting for the next Falco book for what seemed ages, but although I enjoyed The Body in the Bath House, for me it didn't really come to up the author's previous high standards. In particular, I felt that the ending gave the impression that the requisite number of words had been written and a solution to the problem of the body in the title had better be found quickly! In spite of this it was good to meet Falco and his family again, and to see that he was aging along with the rest of us.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
but overseas postal charges are much too high
Falco's stories are always upto not too high expectation.
Overseas postal charges are much too high; I would order tons more, if the postage was not more expensive than the... Read more
Overseas postal charges are much too high; I would order tons more, if the postage was not more expensive than the... Read more
Published 13 months ago by deva
A body in the bathhouse
I couldn't get on with this book at all.
I managed to read upto page 100, as
we were discussing this book at my
book group. Read more
I managed to read upto page 100, as
we were discussing this book at my
book group. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Tewks
All action Falco serves up blood and justice
This was my initiation into the Roman world of informer Marcus Didius Falco, a first-century detective whose employer is the Emperor Vespasian. Read more
Published on 18 Nov 2008 by Mick Read
Falco 13: and it's back to the Jupiter-forsaken British Isles ...
This is lucky thirteen in a series of excellent detective stories set in Vespasian's Roman Empire and featuring the informer Marcus Didius Falco. Read more
Published on 11 Aug 2008 by Marshall Lord
Falco
I have read all of the Falco novels several times over. I love them! It is like visiting with an amusing friend who always makes me feel happier for the meeting. Read more
Published on 25 Jan 2008 by D. Hughes
Another Ancient Detective?
I picked this up in my local library and read it with little expectation. I've read several "ancient detective" books including "Pompeii" by Robert Harris and a few of the... Read more
Published on 26 Jun 2007 by Iphidaimos
Falco Takes a Holiday
This is the twelfth novel in the mystery series featuring Marcus Didius Falco, an informer and sleuth in Rome at the time of Vespasian. Read more
Published on 19 Mar 2007 by J. Chippindale
Falco Takes a Holiday
This is the twelfth novel in the mystery series featuring Marcus Didius Falco, an informer and sleuth in Rome at the time of Vespasian. Read more
Published on 19 Mar 2007 by J. Chippindale
Falco takes a Holiday
This is the twelfth novel in the mystery series featuring Marcus Didius Falco, an informer and sleuth in Rome at the time of Vespasian. Read more
Published on 4 Oct 2006 by J. Chippindale
not Falco's best
I have mixed feelings about the Falco series: the mix of modernisms often jars and I'm not sure I like the whole attitude of 'the Romans were just like us after all' which... Read more
Published on 16 May 2006 by Roman Clodia
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