Another Falco is the fictional hero of the Lindsey Davis books, his full name being Marcus Didius Falco. The character is a Roman private investigator, in the times of the Emperor Vespasian.
He is a plebian but somehow he manages to fall in love with a senator's daughter a patrician. He goes round solving cases, with the books normally being set in Italy but often he travels to Brittania or Hispania it is amazing to see how the Romans lived and Ms. Davis captures the atmosphere of Roman times beautifully.
So far there have been fourteen novels, with the first one being 'The Silver Pigs' and the last novel being 'Scandal Takes a Holiday'. A new book is brought out every twelve months with each one keeping to the high standards which Ms. Davis has set. The list of books in full is thus:
The Silver Pigs
Shadows in Bronze
Venus in Copper
The Iron Hand of Mars
Poseidon's Gold
Last Act in Palmyra
Time to Depart
A Dying Light in Corduba
Three Hands in the Fountain
Two for the Lions
One Virgin Too Many
Ode to a Banker
A Body in the Bath House
The Jupiter Myth
The Accusers
Scandal Takes a Holdiay
The novels are essentially murder mysteries however this description would not do justice to the series.
Throughout the novels we have the running themes of relationships that can be built up over many novels and Davis' comic touch is a real treat.
She creates Falco into a loveable rogue who the reader adores. Davis also creates a very large cast of characters who are acquaintances of Falco whether they are his wife Helena Justina, his great friend and captain of a cohort of the vigiles Petronius or his innumerable relatives all of whom have stories to them that Davis weaves wonderfully.
The books are a wonderful read and recently the first novel and there are many devoted Falco fans out there, so much so that recently BBC Radio 4 aired the first Falco novel - The Silver Pigs in play form with more novels to be potentially dramatised. If you don't read this you are missing out on detective novels at their very best.