The Bottom Line
Silver Pigs provides entertainment for fans of Lindsey Davis or Imperial Rome.
Pros
- Entertaining story about Flavian Rome.
- Introduces leading characters of Falco series.
- Gives background for later stories.
Cons
- Not all characters are distinct.
- Rapid pace makes it easy to miss details.
Description
- Mystery set in Rome in the First Century.
- Features Marcus Didius Falco as an informer.
- Shows how the series' hero Falco met and entranced the senator's daughter.
Guide Review - Book Review 'Silver Pigs' by Lindsey Davis
Lindsey Davis' mysteries, set in Flavian Rome, feature the scruffy, lower-class, underpaid informer Falco and his girl friend and later wife, Helena, the daughter of a senator. How they come together forms the subplot of the first of the series, Silver Pigs. The primary plot takes Falco to Britain and the silver mines in order to learn who has been bilking the emperor. Generations of mismanagement provide part of the answer, but in recent years men close to Helena, her senatorial father, and the Emperor Vespasian have become so heavily involved in the schemes that Helena's much loved young cousin was murdered to keep her quiet.
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