A Body in the Bath House

Marcus Didius Falco, Book 13

By: Lindsey Davis

Narrated by: Christian Rodska

Marcus Didius Falco discovers that rank brings problems, the most gruesome of which is a corpse buried under the tiles of his new bath house. The contractors have fled to Britain where, as the Fates have it, Falco is ordered. A local chief and ally of the Romans is having a Palace built by the Emperor Vespasian. However, the project is running late, and fatal accidents keep happening. Falco, troubleshooting for the Emperor, is without an ally and now next on the list for assassination.©2001 Lindsey Davis (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

More Roman detective work in soggy Britain

Usual professional job from the narrator. Set in Britain, not Falco's favourite place. His family is developing and relationships are changing. If you like the series, you will like this. Also teaches you history without you realising

Not one of the better Falco books

I usually enjoy Ms. Davis's Falco books, but I couldn't even finish this one - even on audio! At first I thought it had to do with the setting of Roman Britain. But two of Ruth Downie's excellent Ruso novels have a similar setting. I decided it was the abundance of new characters - you really can't tell the players without a scorecard. Also, readers who have enjoyed the interaction between Falco and Helena Justina will be disappointed by her relative absence in this chapter. By the end of the book, I just didn't care what happened to anyone.

This series just gets better

I truly enjoy historical mysteries, and Lindsey Davis knows how to pull it off. The narrator does a fine job with creating the character voices. I truly think this series can only get better, especially with character development. Defiantly worth the credit;

Baroom Brawl

If you like far off locations, exotic alluring assassins, everyone and their brother out to kill you, two fisted drinking and barroom brawls, then this book is for you. Many things are recognizable like trying to get reimbursed for your expensed, having shoddy fly by night contractors working on your house, working with family members and avoiding offending people with political pull. It is just too familiar and then suddenly remembering that this all takes place 2000 years ago.

I am a historical type of guy and I really liked reading/hearing the historical facts interwoven with the every day life of adventurous people. Go get um Falco.

The More Things Change...

This might be the best of the series. It has the expected combination of fascinating historical detail, fall-down-laughing comedy, and the delivery of cliff-hanging action. The life painted here reaches up through the millenia and touches us as if there's no space between -- we'll all recognize the bickering architects and builders, the pub closers, the extraneous relatives, the salesmen. The narrator bothered me at first -- he sounds almost Australian, which seemed an anachronism -- but I got over it when I discovered how skillful he is. He truly understands Falco and his irreverance, his strutting, his loyalty, his irony, his common sense and his courage. Not good bedtime reading, though, because you'll be laughing instead of sleeping.