More blasts from the past...

I''ve been very pleased to see that a historical romance set in Ancient Rome,The Gladiator's Honor by Michelle Styles has recently been published. It got very good reviews at AAR and by Jayne at Dear Author. Its nice to see an unusual time period, and its one of my favorites. Yes folks, I took 4 years of Latin in High School, and a semester of Latin and a semester of Ancient Greek in college. (I started out as a Classical and Medieval Studies major.) I'm a big geek, I know.

But as it happens, in my rereading binge of the past month or so, I revisited one of my favorite mystery series ever, the Marcus Didius Falco series by Lindsey Davis, also set in Rome. I read the first one my sophomore year in high school--15 years ago. She's up to #17 at this point, See Delphi and Die. But I went back to the first ones, starting with Silver Pigs. These books revolve around "private informer" Marcus Didius Falco, as he tries to make ends meet with some honest work. A private informer is the ancient equivalent of a private investigator, and the charming plebeian (think lower middle class) does plenty of seedy stuff. He's an amusing, sarcastic narrator. In Silver Pigs, Falco meets Helena Justina, a senator's daughter and it's dislike at first sight. I love the first books the best, as the two navigate their growing relationship. It's a bumpy road. They are not social equals at all, and it adds a new layer of desperation to Falco's efforts, because now he has to make enough money to attain the proper rank, in order to be able to marry Helena. The Romans were pragmatic folks, you could buy your way up, but it didn't come cheap. These are my favorite kind of mysteries: fast and funny, with a great big dollop of romance. There is a lot of history packed in, but don't let it put you off, because it's done well and there's a lot of funny, strange details. I won't deny that the tone is a bit anachronistic, and I'm sure a purist could pick apart the details, but hell, these are just great reads. If you like mysteries, or are interested in checking out something set in a different time period than 19th century Britain, I highly reccommend these. And I'll be getting the Styles book next week.