There Will Be Bodies

By: Lindsey Davis

Narrated by: Jane Collingwood

Ten years after the eruption of Vesuvius, the surrounding countryside lies buried and barren. But the destroyed cities and luxury villas on the Bay of Naples are not utterly lost.

Flavia Albia and her husband Tiberius Manlius are tasked with restoring one villa and identifying any surviving remains.

What they unearth is beyond disturbing. When the volcano erupted some people were left to their fate here, unable to escape. They included the previous owner, Publius Primus - laid out carefully and covered by falling ash.

Was Primus murdered? And, if so, why? Can Flavia Albia solve the mystery?

There Will Be Bodies looks beyond the well-known tragic events to what must have happened afterwards. It is the most intriguing crime novel of Lindsey Davis's long and celebrated career.©2025 Lindsey Davis

Critic reviews

A deliciously enjoyable yarn

long term addiction

love this series! laughed my way through the digits falcon series . lindsay daviies has a wonderful way of writing and keeping the reader entertained.

Immerse yourself in the ancient past

A fun and plausible reconstruction of the ancient post eruption area of Stabiae. I have enjoyed the Flavia Albia series as much as the Falco books - but this one has a little twist at the very end which makes me wonder if it will be the last of the series - I hope not! Well read too.

An enjoyable addition to the series

I enjoyed every volume in this series, but I suspect that I am not as thrilled as I used to be, perhaps because it does get to be more of the same. The characters are all great, but it seemed to take a long time for the plot to seriously develop. I often feel I learn some history from these books, but this time I felt that I’ve already read several books (including non-fiction) about the eruption of Vesuvius (and I visited Pompeii a number of years ago), and so was not as enlightened with something that I didn’t know before. The plot did eventually get somewhere and have a good closure, the narration good, and overall a good listen.