This is the 10th book in the historical fiction detective series featuring Flavia Albia. The series consists of “hard boiled” crime fiction set in Ancient Rome… which makes it very amusing on a meta level, as well as in fact, since the author adds a great deal of humor to the story.

The book begins in AD 89. Flavia Albia is the daughter of Marcus Didius Falco, a private informer (i.e., private investigator), and now Albia, the oldest child of Falco and Helena, has taken on that profession as well. Albia, close to 30, and married to Tiberius Manlius, an aedile (magistrate) about to retire, is a lot like her father in other ways: she has his commitment to dogged perseverance to solve a case, his sense of humor, and his penchant for snarky commentary.

The story involves some gruesome murders, all staged in area performance venues to replicate the plots of some gruesome plays. And in fact, the first murder is of Chremes, who, along with his wife Phrygia led a touring theater troupe. Chremes, found in Domitian’s Stadium, had been crucified according to the plot of the play Laureolus, as announced in a flyer tacked to the stadium. The killer wasn’t finished though, and other lethal reenactments follow. In fact, it begins to appear as though Albia might be a target as well.

Evaluation: This is such a fun series. With Davis’s creation of endearing characters and the educational setting in Ancient Rome, she has created a winning combination.

This was a first for me from this author. Excellent writing by the author hooked me into this novel from the very beginning. I loved all the different characters and the extensive details. The storyline and plot were both well developed and interesting and made me finish this novel in 2 days, highly recommend!

Yet another great entry in the Flavia Albia series. I love Albia's character, she has such a strong voice and makes for the perfect informer, she's clever, she's quick-witted, and her interactions with the cast of characters surrounding her are always interesting. Having such a strong leading lady makes this series so fun to read. I also liked the use of theater in this one, with a killer (or killers) on the loose staging their victims as actors in well-known plays based on Greek/Roman myth. It was fascinating getting the explanations of the myths behind the plays featured, how they differ from the stories, and how the theatre ran in ancient Rome. I also liked the cameo of a character that featured prominently two books ago, it was nice seeing him again, though after several books that featured Albia's domestic life more prevalently, I found myself missing some of the more colorful members of her household. This was a great book, and I hope there is more to come from Lindsey Davis.