Marcus Didius Falco is a private informer in Rome during the reign of Emperor Vespasian — a detective working the streets, taverns, and back alleys of the ancient city. Lindsey Davis introduced him in The Silver Pigs (1989) and kept him busy for 20 novels.
Falco is from the Aventine Hill, one of Rome’s poorer neighborhoods. He is sharp, funny, perpetually short of money, and reluctant to take on the kind of work that tends to get people killed — though he keeps taking it anyway. His cases pull him across the Roman Empire. He investigates stolen silver in Britain, a senator’s murder in Spain, a serial killer in Rome, corruption in North Africa, and fraud in Athens. Along the way, he falls for Helena Justina, a senator’s daughter who is too smart and too stubborn to stay out of danger.
Davis used the Falco novels to build a detailed, lived-in portrait of first-century Rome. The books are mysteries, but they are also comedies of Roman daily life — the food, the plumbing, the family arguments, the politics. After 20 novels, Davis retired Falco and gave the series to his adopted daughter, Flavia Albia, who picked up the informer trade in her own 15-book sequence.
Reading Order
See the complete Marcus Didius Falco reading order for all books in the series.