The Accusers - Softcover

Davis, Lindsey

3.96 avg rating •

( 2,427 ratings by Goodreads )

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0099445263 ISBN 13: 9780099445265

Publisher: Arrow, 2004

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Having returned from his trip to Londinium, Falco takes up employment with Paccius Africanus and Silius Italicus, two lawyers at the top of their trade. For the trial of a senator they need Falco to make an affidavit confirming repayment of a loan. Having been out of the country and starved of Forum gossip for some time, Falco has little interest in this trial, so he makes his deposition and then leaves.
The prosecution are successful and a large financial judgement is made, but one month later the senator is dead, apparently by suicide. The heirs are now in a situation of not having to pay up, and the prosecutor Silius Italicus suddenly decides to seek out Falco. With a little coercion, Falco joins the prosecution in seeking to persuade a magistrate to instigate a new trial against Metellus' son. Blinded by the vision of rich pickings to be gained by the prosecution, Falco temporarily forgets that, if they fail, the financial penalties leveled against the informers who brought the case are potentially enormous.

A pure delight, with Davis's unique blend of wit and humour brilliantly immersing us in the marvels of ancient Roman life

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Review:

Lindsey Davis's Falco thrillers normally focus on how like us the Romans were; The Accusers concentrates on an important difference. Prosecutors were rewarded with a portion of the guilty's goods, or fined to compensate the innocent. When a senator, found guilty in a corruption trial, apparently kills himself, Falco is hired to prove he was murdered because suicide nullifies the prosecution's financial claims. Only the question is: which of the late Metellus' heirs poisoned him, since almost all of them had more than one motive? Falco finds himself and his wife Helena caught up once again in the dark side of Roman high society and all the interesting ways in which it is contiguous with the busy life of sordid streets.

Davis's books are always at their best when Falco, as our viewpoint, is finding out something he does not know about how things work; this is a good detective story partly because of the exposition of the Roman legal system and not in spite of it. It also helps that it is one of the Davis novels in which Falco over-reaches and finds himself distinctly out of his depth; he is one of the most attractive of historical detectives because he is not infallible. --Roz Kaveney

Review:

"A pure delight, with Davis's unique blend of wit and humour brilliantly immersing us in the marvels of ancient Roman life" (Good Book Guide)

"Cheerful and informal cynicism in a solemnly detailed classical setting" (Times Literary Supplement)

"Queen of the humorous crime romp is Lindsey Davis" (Guardian)

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