Enemies at Home

May 26, 2014
Set in Rome in 89 C.E., Davis’s sequel to 2013’s The Ides of April boasts a strong female lead. Flavia Albia, the adopted daughter of Marcus Didius Falco, who starred in his own 20-book series, carries on the family tradition as an informer, the ancient Roman equivalent of a private detective. Manlius Faustus, a government official, asks Flavia to find out who strangled Valerius Aviola and Mucia Lucilla, a newlywed couple, in their apartment on the Esquiline Hill. The investigating officer has taken the easy way out by accusing some of the household’s slaves of the crime, but Faustus has his doubts. Despite violating a number of her cardinal rules (e.g., “Never take on clients who cannot pay you”), Flavia accepts the case. Diamond Dagger Award winner Davis vividly portrays the setting, “a poisoned city, where a paranoid emperor had caused often-lethal mistrust,” but she plays less than fair in her clues to the killer’s identity.

August 1, 2014
In first-century Rome, the latest case for Flavia Albia-the daughter of veteran investigator Marcus Didius Falco who's followed him into the family business (The Ides of April, 2013)-threatens to send her into an early retirement. Flavia's attraction to aedile Tiberius Faustus, with whom she's recently worked on a case, clouds her judgment. When Faustus needs an independent detective to solve a bafflingly brutal crime that's sent ripples of fear through the city, Flavia heedlessly takes on the job. Middle-age newlyweds Valerius Aviola and Mucia Lucilia have been murdered in their bed during their second night as man and wife. Although there's clear evidence of burglary, their many slaves are automatically presumed to be guilty accomplices until proven innocent. A mass exodus of the suspects and the hasty cleaning of the murder scene put Flavia two steps behind at the very outset of her probe. Nevertheless, she sets about systematically questioning every member of the Aviola household who hasn't fled. The fear, however, runs in both directions, as slaves vastly outnumber free citizens. Tracing stolen items helps Flavia's investigation gain traction but places her in physical danger. Faustus' reappearance as a sidekick enlivens the story considerably, and things really get interesting when Flavia consults her shrewd uncles, both quick to offer advice and to call her out on her recklessness and her little deceits. Flavia's slow-moving second mystery is a solidly plotted traditional whodunit with some nice historical touches. As the heroine become more fully fleshed, her challenges become more and more interesting.

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Starred review from July 1, 2014
Fans of mysteries set in ancient Rome are well aware of Marcus Didius Falco, the investigator who has starred in 20-odd novels since his debut in the late 1980s. In 2013's The Ides of April, Davis switched gears and introduced a new investigator protagonist: Flavia Albia, Falco's adopted, British-born daughter. She's certainly a chip off the ol' block: fans of the Falco novels will see reflections of his wit and tenacity in his daughter, and in this, her second novel, her skills at investigation and diplomacy are put to the test. The apparent murders of a Roman couple could have extreme ramifications, due to a law that requires that all slaves of a murdered Roman citizen be automatically (and immediately) put to death. The slaves of these murder victims are well aware of the law and have already gone on the run, hiding out at the Temple of Ceres, a sort of sanctuary for refugees from Roman law. Flavia's assignment: solve the murders and, if possible, save the lives of the innocent slaves. Among their many virtues, perhaps the most appealing thing about Davis' Roman mysteries is their nimble prose, unfettered by clots of scene-setting and drawn-out historical exposition. The dialogue is breezy, free of faux-historical grammatical constructions, and the characters feel like contemporary men and women who happen to be living a long time ago. The Flavia Albia series promises to be every bit as exciting and enduring as the Falco mysteries.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)