SEE DELPHI AND DIE
Lindsey
Davis
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 0 -7126 - 2590 - 9
2005
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SEE DELPHI AND DIE -
LINDSEY DAVIS
No matter how prolific a reader might be, it is always interesting to come into a series when it's already well underway. The challenges involved are different and more refreshing, as the characters and setting are totally new and well developed. So it was with See Delphi And Die, the 17th novel in the Falco series written by Lindsey Davis, that current popularity of all things Roman was extended to Crime Fiction set in AD 76.
A young girl and a newly-wed woman have been murdered at Olympia and
the authorities will not investigate properly. Falco steps in and, having
made himself unwelcome at the hidebound sanctuary, he soon finds himself
up against the secrets hidden by The Seven Sites Travel Company (yes,
such things did exist at that time) and the search for truth proves
far from genteel in the land of myth and legend.
For reasons of credibility if for no
other, Historical Fiction needs to be historically accurate. With See
Delphi And Die, it is easy to see why academics use these novels
as overviews to the life and times of the Roman Empire and why her novels
have sold well over the million mark. Beautifully written and ornately
detailed, the prose never runs to being dull thanks to the frequent
injections of humour that the author gives the dialogue. Put simply,
the characters may be from two thousand years ago, but they might also
be standing alongside us in Tesco's on a Saturday morning. The complaints,
views, loves and tribulations are the same now as they were then and
Davis captures this superbly well.
The plot is extremely fast moving and
the story demands to be read, simply through it being so credible and
etched so finely, with the conclusion more than shocking enough to leave
the reader to wanting more and more and more.
As an introduction to the Roman world,
See Delphi And Die is superb. As an introduction the world of Lindsey
Davis and Marcus Didius Falco, See Delphi And Die
may be the latest addition to a long line, but certainly will not be
the last to be Reviewed here.
www.lindseydavis.co.uk
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break the rules as I see fit.” - Chris High 2003.