Lindsey Davis is a very gifted writer, now on the thirteenth iteration of her Flavia Albia female detective series, which followed a long running series featuring Falco, the step father of Flavia. The Flavia Albia series deals with a series of events late in the first century A.D., and in this case a good decade after the eruption and destruction brought on by Mt. Vesuvius. Here is the Amazon summary about this latest novel.
“A decade after the destructive eruption, Flavia Albia finds herself investigating family secrets and possible crimes buried in the ash of Mount Vesuvius. In first century Rome, Flavia Albia—daughter and successor to Marcus Didius Falco—is once again faced with uncovering the truth. Quite literally. Only ten year’s previous, Mount Vesuvius erupted and rained ash down about the Roman cities and towns along the Bay of Naples. But while some cities were destroyed, others were merely badly damaged. And the uncle of Flavia Albia’s husband seizes the opportunity to buy a villa…cheap! It just has to be dug out of the ash, and restored. Oh, and any bodies uncovered, including the previous owner, given a proper burial.
And as the Villa is being renovated, there are indeed bodies found. But one is not like the others—instead of buried in the ash, the previous owner’s body is found in a locked storeroom and Albia is immediately suspicious that he didn’t die in the eruption. With suspicious caretakers, a large inheritance, untrustworthy friends and a Sicilian pirate sniffing around, Albia must solve the riddle of a long ago death, maybe murder, to prevent another one.”
This particular novel is 380+ long and it deals nicely with the recovery period a decade after the destruction caused by that famous volcano. The villages it focuses on Stabiae for instance, were not totally obliterated compared to Pompeii and Herculaneum, but nonetheless buried by the eruption, with many lives lost. But how would one discern that a particular body was a murder victim as opposed to just a disaster victim? Inquiring minds want to know. By now in this series, Flavia has settled into her role without the early awkwardness, and her relationship with her husband Tiberius Manlius the tribune, is frankly charming. Here are two people who love and respect each other and learned how to work together as a good team.
Figuring out who dunnit, is interesting and keeps you reading, but in the end you are more interested in the main character and their relationship, and rightly so. One of the big keys to getting people to read volume after volume in a series is to make sure the main characters are interesting, even likeable, which makes you want to learn more.
Another thing about Davis as a writer, is not only does she know her history of the relevant period, but she is even able to inject humor from time to time into a very serious storyline, reflecting the absurd or silly aspects of an otherwise serious life. Other writers of this general period— for instance Stephen Saylor, or Harris, or even Colleen McCullough, are able to do serious, but not so much whimsical, which makes Davis’ series of novels a bit more fun. Highly recommended.
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