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A Body in the Bathhouse
by Lindsey Davis Warner Books, September 2002 354 pages, $24.95 ISBN: 0892967714 Marcus Didius Falco series #13 In Rome, 75 A.D., Marcus Didius Falco, private investigator, is going through the home renovation from Hades until he swaps houses with his father. His father somehow convinces the bathhouse contractors, Gloccus and Cotta, to finish their work but it comes with a price--soon after the bathhouse is finished a reek of decay emanates from it. Falco and his father tear up the brand-new mosaic floor and find a rotting body of a man.
Falco, with the help of his wife Helena's two brothers, Justinus and Aelianus, identifies the body as that of a tile grouter working for Gloccus and Cotta. But further investigation show that the builders have gone off to work on the public works project in Britannia. Falco knows when it's time to gave in to the Fates. He accepts the Emperor's commission, packs up his wife, his two young daughters, their nurse Hyspale, Justinus and Aelianus, and his unwilling sister Maia, and heads off to the savage shores of Britannia. His commission for the Emperor is simple--audit the project and find out why it is behind schedule and running over cost. It becomes exceedingly clear that part of the blame rests on the architect/team leader, Pomponius. But there are other problems that Falco can't put his finger on right away--just a feeling that there is more happening than what appears on the surface, including too many workers being accidentally killed. Justinus and Aelianus have their own mission from Falco--find builders Gloccus and Cotta. And when the Chief Spy's top infiltrator Perella also shows up in Britannia, Falco wonders if his sister Maia will ever be out of danger. And as Falco untangles each thread of a massive web of deceit and treachery, he finds himself trying to get his entire family out of danger and safely back to civilized Rome. A Body in the Bathhouse is an interesting and humorous historical mystery (think of Charlotte MacLeod's Peter and Helen Shandy transported back to ancient Rome). Falco has a deprecating sense of humor about life but his methods of investigation in a world sans our modern conveniences is amusing and, at times, almost ingenious. This is the first book I have read from this series and it will not be the last! Go To Page: 1
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