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UK Authors - Mystery |
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One Virgin Too Many |
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 One Virgin Too Many byLindsey Davis Random House (Century) 292 pages, 1999 ISBN 071267702X Reviewed by our UK Editor Rachel A. Hyde This is the eleventh entry in this popular series about Marcus Didius Falco, the world’s first private eye. At long last, it looks as though he is getting somewhere and is about to enter into the hallowed ranks of the Equestrians or Roman middle class. He even has a new post: Procurator of the Sacred Poultry and it looks as though he might be about to move house. He needs a new partner and has just announced some bad news to his sister Maia. The last thing he needs after having returned from Tripolitania is a resplendently dressed patrician tot of six years getting down from her litter outside his house. Gaia insists that she is in danger of being murdered but Falco doesn’t believe her. He soon learns that she is the most likely candidate to become the new Vestal Virgin, and when she goes missing, he wishes he had listened to her. And what about the body in the Sacred Grove of the Arval Brothers that Helena’s brother has just found? Falco, under orders from Titus Caesar, has to solve the case before it is too late. I like a book where the characters and their situations grow and change, as real life is after all like that. I hope that Falco and his family move to their new house and we find out how he fares in a different stratum of society. The author is adept at describing the daily lives of dysfunctional families. There are two in this novel with relationships worthy of a soap opera. However, I found the action too slow for a gripping detective novel. Falco narrates the story with the views of a time traveller or a foreign tourist regarding religion, which is rather at odds with the normal view of people towards their deities until very recently. The priests, Vestals and others have their own reasons for enjoying their exalted roles. The views of the other characters are hard to discern and too secular to be how first century Romans looked at their pantheon. A faster-paced plot and values more akin to the ancient world would put the cherry on top of what could be a delicious confection. |
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