Desperate Undertaking

By: Lindsey Davis

Narrated by: Jane Collingwood

The next witty, must-listen book in the Flavia Albia series.

Rome, the very end of December. The Field of Mars is packed with monuments, none more beautiful than Domitian's new Odeon and Stadium. But the area has been overtaken by ugly events: elaborately staged murders. Someone bears a spectacular grudge against the theatrical community, and intends to get revenge in the most spectacular way possible. The killer's method is to re-enact bloody scenes from the gruesome side of popular theatre, where characters in plays really die on stage.

A figure from the past wants Flavia Albia's father to investigate, but Falco is out of Rome for the holidays. Albia seizes the commission. And begins to regret doing so almost immediately. 'The undertaker did it!' the first victim croaks before expiring. This seems to make no sense, because surely people are already dead when they go to their funeral?

Though there is a serial killer at large, the authorities would prefer a cover-up but Albia is driven to discover what is going on. How much blood must be shed before the mania ends? And could her own family be on the list for a frightful stage death?

(P) 2022 Hodder & Stoughton Limited©2022 Lindsey Davis

Critic reviews

Ancient Rome rocks thanks to this bestseller. She has the skills to have you shaking your toga with giggles one minute, and gasping the next a gruesome turn of events

Fiendishly twisted mystery

As ever, Davis transports us to a superbly realised ancient world full of persuasive detail

Great fun, shot through with sharp observations

I love this series

I enjoyed every one of these, and I always learn something new about Ancient Rome (or in this case, Greek mythology). Perhaps at times I feel like there should be some graceful end to this series, because something can be worn out, after a while, but I’ve still got book 11 (I always mix up what I listen to, to change style, author, genre, etc and have a variety), and I know book 12 is on the way. In the meantime, I’ve been having fun with them, and the narration is always great.