Alexandria - Hardcover

Davis, Lindsey

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1846052874 ISBN 13: 9781846052873

Publisher: Century, 2009

Synopsis

For Marcus Didius Falco, agent to the Emperor Vespasian, Alexandria holds fascination and a hint of fear. Beautiful, historic and famously unruly, the great cosmopolitan city wears Roman rule lightly. While his wife, Helena Justina, wants to see the Lighthouse and the Pyramids, Falco has a mission at the Great Library that soon turns out to involve much more than stock-taking its innumerable scrolls. A mysterious death in the world-famous library bring him into immediate conflict with the darker side of academic life. With forensic science in its infancy, even an illegal autopsy fails to find real answers.To solve the crime for the Roman Prefect - if indeed it is a crime - Falco will have to draw on his own doggedness and intuition, at first supported only by Helena's commonsense and the loyal backup of her brother Aulus, who goes under cover as a student among the in-fighting academics. The philosophers lust after fame and fortune so ruthlessly there is soon another terrifying death, this time at the royal zoo. At the same time, his original innocent mission is overshadowed by the machinations of his Uncle Fulvius, who is living in Alexandria with his partner Cassius for obscure reasons. Their involvement in local affairs already seems shady when they are joined by their crony, Falco's father, Geminus, a man well known for disreputable business practices. If the irrepressible Pa has had any hand in what has gone wrong at the Library, Falco knows he stands no chance...

About this title

Review:

'Like visiting old friends in a familiar and endearing, if sometimes bizarre, environment. Jokes and skulduggery crowd the pages.' (The Guardian)

'Another entertaining adventure.' (The Sunday Telegraph)

'The story gallops along at a tremendous pace with humour and suspense dispensed in equal measure.' (The Daily Express)

Book Description:

One of the Roman novels from the bestselling historical fiction Falco series

About this edition

• Publisher: Century
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1846052874
• ISBN 13: 9781846052873
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 288