Two for the Lions - Hardcover

Davis, Lindsey

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0712677968 ISBN 13: 9780712677967

Publisher: Century, 1998

Synopsis

Another Falco detective story, set in Rome AD 73. Distracted by the apparent murder of a star man-eating lion, Falco uncovers a bitter rivalry between the gladiators' trainers. When one also ends up dead, Falco is forced to investigate.

About this title

Review:

The further Davies gets into her series of private eye (or, to be precise, public informer) thrillers set in the Rome of Vespasian, the more she learns what it is that she does best. Falco is working for the tax department, investigating used gladiator scams, and stumbles into more murders. The various mysteries here--the stabbing of the arena- lion trained to eat criminals, the murder of a famous gladiator generally considered past his prime--are solved elegantly enough and with a genial ruthlessness appropriate to the period in which they are set.

Davies never forgets that this society rests on the backs of slaves and has a taste for bloodshed which even we might consider excessive. But what we read Davies for is partly for the continuing soap opera of on-the-make Falco, his upper-class wife Helena and their variously rackety, lowlife or snobbish connections, and partly for her simply wonderful knowledge of how things worked. We learn, for example, a lot about the wild- beast trade and provincial resentments in a North Africa which the Romans still suspect are more Carthaginian than not; Davies's novels are entertaining and informative, and leave one wanting more.--Roz Kaveney

Review:

"Surely the best historical detective in the business" (Daily Telegraph)

"For more laughter visit Ancient Rome in Lindsey Davis' tenth novel" (Mail on Sunday)

"If only all bestsellers were this satisfying" (Time Out)

About this edition

• Publisher: Century
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0712677968
• ISBN 13: 9780712677967
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 336