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Ode to a Banker (Paperback)

by Lindsey Davis (Author)
3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 358 pages
  • Publisher: Arrow Books Ltd; New edition edition (1 Jun 2001)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0099298201
  • ISBN-13: 978-0099298205
  • Product Dimensions: 17.7 x 11.1 x 2.9 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 265,915 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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    #41 in  Books > Crime, Thrillers & Mystery > Authors, A-Z > D > Davis, Lindsey

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

Lindsey Davis's novels about the Roman informer Falco have always been ingenious in the way she sets up impeccably researched Imperial Roman equivalents of modern worlds and modern crimes. Ode to a Banker is one of the closest of her books to a classic traditional crime novel, in that it deals with a murder in a small enclosed world, with likely suspects whose motives have to be gone through by interrogation and legwork--the first of the bodies is even found in a library. Chrysippus was a banker and a publisher, owner of a minor scriptorium where not especially accurate copies of manuscripts are made by dictation; he is found with the centre rod from a scroll stuffed up his nose. Falco himself is momentarily a suspect--he had a row with Chrysippus who offered to vanity publish Falco's poems--but soon finds himself the official investigator, sub-contracting the job for his friends in the Watch. This is as elegantly picturesque in its portrait of the Emperor Vespasian's crowded metropolis as Davis has ever been; the soap opera of Falco's extended and disreputable family continues apace and amid all the snazzy puzzles, we get a real sense of a lively mind busy at work. --Roz Kaveney --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.


Review

"Lindsay Davis brings Imperial Rome to life." -" Ellis Peters"
"Her witty and literate Falco novels are models of the genre." - "Times"
"One can only hope that Falco will be around for as long as Flashman." - "Time Out"
"A rollicking narrative... its award-winning author [is] in excellent form. - Frances Fyfield
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Customer Reviews

13 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
3.8 out of 5 stars (13 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Falco enters the murky worlds of publishing & finance, 7 Jan 2002
By A Customer
Lindsey Davis continues her Falco series in 'Ode to a banker'; this time he's asked to solve the murder of a publisher.
The story is textured and atmospheric and is one of the better books in the series with authors, publishers & bankers, all the butt of many jokes.
The mystery is well set-up but Davis does the old Agatha Christie trick of with-holding information from the reader to pad out the story. Even though it's still possible to work out the killer.
Part of the pleasure of these books is following the soap opera of Falco's private life, and it is here where this book delivers big time. The probable relationships, which have been signalled in previous books, come to fruition here. These mean major changes for Falco and his family.
An very satisfying read - if you've enjoyed & followed the series, then you must read this.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Falco The Poet, 4 Oct 2006
By J. Chippindale (England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)   
This is the twelfth novel in the mystery series featuring Marcus Didius Falco, an informer and sleuth in Rome at the time of Vespasian. A series of books that have become hugely popular, so much so that the author is now at the forefront of historical mystery writers. It was probably a stroke of genius on her part to have novels that are extremely well researched and contain all the elements that would be and should be found in the Roman world of circa AD70, but to have a lead character who has the vocabulary of a present day New York cop.

This book sees Falco delving into the world of literary jealousies and everything that goes with them. Writers block, jealousy and fraud is just scratching the surface. He discovers that there are a series of puzzling links to the Aurelian Bank and finds out the business is owned by Chrysippus.

Chrysippus is a man that Falco knows only too well, because a little private recital of Falco's poetry had recently been gate crashed by Aurelius Chrysippus, a scriptorium owner and some of his literary friends and the following day Chrysippus offers to publish Falco's poems.

When the body of the scriptorium owner is found Petro, long time friend of Falco and the Vigil's enquiry officer, commissions Falco to investigate the murder, while at the same time trying not to pull his leg too hard regarding his poetic prowess.
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5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars More good stuff from the Aventine, 1 Aug 2001
This review is from: Ode to a Banker (Hardcover)
OK so it's not the best of the series but it's still very very good and, let's face it, Lindsey Davies on a bad day (toothache, unpaid bills, PMT) is still a heck of a lot more entertaining than most of the others in her genre (I could mention names but I won't). I really enjoyed it. Can't wait for the next!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Falco slows down
I liked the idea of the storyline, dodgy bank props up dodgy publisher, and Falco's relationship with Helena continues to develop and work very well. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Mick Read

5.0 out of 5 stars Falco 12: of poetry, bankers, builders, and murder
This is the twelfth in a series of excellent detective stories set in Vespasian's Roman Empire and featuring the informer Marcus Didius Falco. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Marshall Lord

5.0 out of 5 stars Falco the Poet
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

2.0 out of 5 stars This Series Is Seriously Slipping
When the Marcus Didius Falco series began, over a decade and eleven books ago, I was immediately hooked. Read more
Published on 26 Jan 2004 by A. Ross

5.0 out of 5 stars Davis does it again
Lindsey Davis's imagination seems to know no bounds. Once again, she creates a world so vivid that the reader has absolutely no difficulty in understanding or believing in it,... Read more
Published on 22 Jul 2001

4.0 out of 5 stars An enjoyable addition to a superb series
I can understand other reviewers' comments that this is not the strongest in the series but it is nevertheless a vastly entertaining addition to the saga of Marcus Didius Falco,... Read more
Published on 19 Jun 2001 by C. Cooper

3.0 out of 5 stars Lacking a certain something
I have always enjoyed Lindsey Davis's work, even the romance that I purchased by mistake, and this is another good book, however having recently reread it on holiday I am forced... Read more
Published on 13 Dec 2000 by Andrew J. Codling

1.0 out of 5 stars Tedius Maximus
Davis's Falco series has shown signs of running out of steam for a long time. This tale of the murder of a publisher seems interminable; the prose is turgid and the dialogue... Read more
Published on 12 Sep 2000

5.0 out of 5 stars Ther is no business like editing business
A very thourough approach of the editing and banking areas in Rome and a plot subtlely entwining those two businesses. Read more
Published on 21 Jun 2000

4.0 out of 5 stars A (happy) continuation of the series
If, like me, you are a fan of this series, then you will enjoy this latest addition. The same detailed rendering of life in Vespasian's Rome, the on-going feuds in Falco's... Read more
Published on 5 Jun 2000

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