White Murder (A Marcus Corvinus Mystery)
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Review
'Wishart creates a pungent, throbbingly vibrant Rome.' (Highland News Group )
'A real gripping mystery yarn with a strong vein of laconic humour.' (Peterborough Evening Telegraph )
Praise for OLD BONES:
'His learning shines through. He has a feel for ancient times yet uses modern dialogue. This neat trick manages to combine the atmosphere of the ancient world while moving the story quickly and assuredly on. Highly recommended.' (Yorkshire Evening Express )
'With the toga-wearing sleuths of Lindsey Davis and Steven Saylor prowling the alleys of Ancient Rome, is there room for Wishart's Marcus Corvinus? On this evidence the answer is resoundingly in the affirmative.' (The Times )
Praise for THE HORSE COIN:
'enjoyable . . . an ingenious solution to this ancient mystery' (Sunday Telegraph ) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
'A real gripping mystery yarn with a strong vein of laconic humour.' (Peterborough Evening Telegraph )
Praise for OLD BONES:
'His learning shines through. He has a feel for ancient times yet uses modern dialogue. This neat trick manages to combine the atmosphere of the ancient world while moving the story quickly and assuredly on. Highly recommended.' (Yorkshire Evening Express )
'With the toga-wearing sleuths of Lindsey Davis and Steven Saylor prowling the alleys of Ancient Rome, is there room for Wishart's Marcus Corvinus? On this evidence the answer is resoundingly in the affirmative.' (The Times )
Praise for THE HORSE COIN:
'enjoyable . . . an ingenious solution to this ancient mystery' (Sunday Telegraph ) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Sunday Telegraph
Praise for THE HORSE COIN:
‘enjoyable ... an ingenious solution to this ancient mystery' --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
‘enjoyable ... an ingenious solution to this ancient mystery' --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Pegasus was a charioteer and at the height of his fame, a sporting superstar. So why did he suddenly transfer from the Greens, Rome's premier team, to the second-division Whites? More pressingly, who knifed him in a back alley and why are the authorities doing a cover-up?
Marcus Valerius Corvinus, minor aristocrat and amateur sleuth, was around and he can't resist a mystery. He knows he shouldn't get involved. Chariot racing is the biggest thing in Rome and the money involved in betting is huge. There is a murky side to the business, with allegations of race-fixing and horse-nobbling, and some very unpleasant characters who are well-connected enough not to be put off by Corvinus's status if they decide to do some harm. Politics are involved and Corvinus doesn't do politics. And early on someone drops in the name of Corvinus's least-favourite imperial, Prince Gaius (the future emperor Caligula), a fanatical Greens supporter.
Of course our hero cannot ignore the challenge and the result is a highly detailed and typically engrossing Wishart-Corvinus good read played out in Rome, the port of Ostia, and the green and fertile (things change) province of Sicily.
Wishart has a characteristic approach in his Marcus Corvinus novels. The hero has a tendency to wilful anachronism in speech and attitude that is refreshing at first, though it can be overdone and grow a bit tedious. The author avoids Latin words so the Forum becomes Market Square, togas are mantles and so on. The effect is to draw you in to the ancient world while making it seem more familiar - which makes it all the more shocking when you get a brutal reminder that this was a different world with very different standards, and Corvinus is ultimately a man of his time who sees nothing strange in those standards.
The Marcus Corvinus novels occupy a distinct niche in the well-filled range of detective novels set in Ancient Rome. They differ markedly from Steven Saylor on the one hand and Lindsay Davis on the other. And they are well worth reading.
Marcus Valerius Corvinus, minor aristocrat and amateur sleuth, was around and he can't resist a mystery. He knows he shouldn't get involved. Chariot racing is the biggest thing in Rome and the money involved in betting is huge. There is a murky side to the business, with allegations of race-fixing and horse-nobbling, and some very unpleasant characters who are well-connected enough not to be put off by Corvinus's status if they decide to do some harm. Politics are involved and Corvinus doesn't do politics. And early on someone drops in the name of Corvinus's least-favourite imperial, Prince Gaius (the future emperor Caligula), a fanatical Greens supporter.
Of course our hero cannot ignore the challenge and the result is a highly detailed and typically engrossing Wishart-Corvinus good read played out in Rome, the port of Ostia, and the green and fertile (things change) province of Sicily.
Wishart has a characteristic approach in his Marcus Corvinus novels. The hero has a tendency to wilful anachronism in speech and attitude that is refreshing at first, though it can be overdone and grow a bit tedious. The author avoids Latin words so the Forum becomes Market Square, togas are mantles and so on. The effect is to draw you in to the ancient world while making it seem more familiar - which makes it all the more shocking when you get a brutal reminder that this was a different world with very different standards, and Corvinus is ultimately a man of his time who sees nothing strange in those standards.
The Marcus Corvinus novels occupy a distinct niche in the well-filled range of detective novels set in Ancient Rome. They differ markedly from Steven Saylor on the one hand and Lindsay Davis on the other. And they are well worth reading.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
When Pegasus, racing mega-star and lead driver of the Whites faction, is found stabbed to death in the alleyway, Marcus Corvinus is already on site. Tracking the murderer down takes Marcus deep into the murky world of Roman chariot-racing with all its secrets, skulduggeries, and scams; and his task is not made any easier by the fact that in the process he has a lovesick major-domo, an invisible dagger, and Mount Etna to contend with.
As taut, pacy and gripping as usual. Great scene on the slopes of Etna.
As taut, pacy and gripping as usual. Great scene on the slopes of Etna.
5 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Marcus Corvinus, that famous Roman sleuth, with an accent and a demeanour like a New York cop (I know it sounds silly, but it works perfectly) is winding down in one of Rome's many 'wine bars' when a little guy walks in and everybodys jaw drops and the place goes quiet.
Corvinus has no idea who the man is, but obviously virtually everyone else in the room does. The guy is small in stature but well built and has a presence about him. He keeps looking over his shoulder as though he is expecting someone, but eventually asks the landlord where the latrine is. The owner explains that this happens to be a wall down the alley behind the bar.
While the guy is missing Corvinus find out that he is the lead driver for the Whites, one of Rome's famous chariot racing teams. Suddenly there is uproar as the owner's son rushes back in to say that the little guy has been murdered in the alley.
Corvinus rushes out to find that the chariot racer has been stabbed, but notices that his purse has not been taken. So the motive cannot be robbery. Three heavies from the watch eventually turn up to look at the scene and take the body away. The leader is insistent that the purse has been taken, which arouses the suspicions of Corvinus. There is obviously something fishy going on and he decides to try to get to the bottom of it.
His investigations take him into the very private world of Rome's racing teams and also into more danger than he bargain for . . .
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