Three Hands in the Fountain by Lindsey Davis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Falco and his good friend Petro find a decaying hand in the local fountain and stumble into solving a good ol' fashioned mystery. Three Hands in the Fountain is a return to what I like best in the Falco series--street characters and action set in the city of Rome with a misogynistic serial killer on the loose who has to be found before he kills again. Falco discovering bits of women's bodies in the aqueducts and trying to work out the psyche of the killer gives the story a rather modern flair. About the only thing that slow the story's pacing are long descriptions of the Roman water supply system itself. (Agreed it was quite an achievement, but can we stick with the characters and their emotions a bit longer, please? I'm not a civil engineer!) Helena Justina makes only token appearances and one hopes her role increases in later stories as their child grows up. Still, Three Hands in the Fountain is an enjoyable read for fans of the series.
View all my reviews
A Dying Light in Corduba by Lindsey Davis
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
We find Falco and his sweetheart Helena Justina right on the verge of parenthood in A Dying Light in Corduba, and somehow you know it's just not going to be easy for this pair. When Anacrites the Chief Spy is brutally attacked and another spy is killed, Falco finds himself going abroad to Spain to track down the culprits, discover a possible olive oil cartel, and check out the local Roman citizens who hold immense feelings of superiority. Falco wins the day eventually, but almost at the cost of his sanity and pregnant Helena's health. The setting and details in this installment are first rate, but whenever Falco leaves Rome the story pacing seems to suffer a bit, and the reader longs for the political intrigue and familiar characters at the palace and in the streets of the Aventine. Still, A Dying Light in Corduba is for the most part a fun read, and fans of the series will enjoy it.
View all my reviews
Last Act in Palmyra by Lindsey Davis
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
It's been a few years since I read a Falco mystery by Lindsey Davis so when I finally got a hold of Last Act in Palmyra, I was happy to delve into the world of ancient Rome once again. Falco is the same sleuth as he ever was--resourceful, trustworthy, worldly, cynical, and madly in love with a senator's daughter, Helena Justina. The setting in the cities of the Decapolis is interesting, and the details of everyday life in the first century Roman world are fascinating, as Davis is terrific with bringing such historical things to life. Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said for all the characters. About the only thing that spoiled this installment in the series is the tediousness of the storyline and how the various stock characters of the traveling theatre troupe in which Falco and Helena travel seemed to blur together in your mind. The story's pacing is slow compared with earlier capers, and I wasn't quite as excited to keep turning pages since I'd figured out who had committed the murder long before Falco showed signs that he even had a clue. I'm not a big mystery reader, so perhaps this wouldn't be a problem for most, but I missed the political intrigue and blood-and-guts action of the earlier books. Still, if you need a Falco fix, Last Act in Palmyra is sure to please.
View all my reviews
