Book info

• Title The Silver Pigs
• Author Lindsey Davis
• Year 1989
• Genre Historical

Marcus Didius Falco is a private informer, the closest thing that first-century Rome has to a detective. A new emperor, Vespasian, has ascended to power. The tides of money and power are in flux, and Rome's vicious games swirl more ferociously than ever. When Falco rescues a young girl in trouble, he catapults himself into a dangerous game involving stolen imperial ingots, a dark political plot and, most hazardous of all, a senator's daughter connected to the traitors Falco has sworn to expose.

Thoughts

Set in Rome AD 70. Marcus Didius Falco bumps into a beautiful young girl and the next thing he knows, she has been murdered. Being of the private investigative sort, he begins to unravel a huge plot that leads him through Rome, to Britain and back, to a meeting with his high and mighty himself, the emperor.

Marcus is a nice little character, he lives on his own and is fond of women but takes care of his mother and his family as well. He spends three months as a slave in the mines, just to gain some new information - a brave man!

Written in the first person, Marcus lets you into his world without going into too many gory details. The story gets told, with some added bits that are probably not specific to the time period, but it all shakes out fine in the end.

Rating: 3 / 5