In Ancient Rome, the number of slaves was far greater than that of free citizens. As a result, often the people Romans feared most were the "enemies at home," the slaves under their own roofs. Because of this, Roman law decreed that if the head of a household was murdered at home, and the culprit wasn't quickly discovered, his slaves, all of them, guilty or not, were presumed responsible and were put to death. Without exception. When a couple is...

Working as a private informer in Rome during the reign of Domitian, Flavia Albia is hired to investigate a fatal accident, an investigation that turns sinister when her client dies under suspicious circumstances that place Flavia's reputation at stake.

"In first century Rome, Flavia Albia, the daughter of Marcus Didius Falco, has taken up her father's former profession as an informer. On a typical day, it's small cases cheating spouses, employees dipping into the till but this isn't a typical day. Her beloved, the plebeian Manlius Faustus, has recently moved in and decided that they should get married in a big, showy ceremony as part of beginning a proper domestic life together. Also, his contracting...

The first century Roman sleuth, Marcus Didius Falco, investigates a murder linked to corruption in the olive oil trade. By the author of Last Act in Palmyra.

"Flavia Albia, daughter of Marcus Didius Falco, has taken over her father's business as a private informer. She only has two hard and fast rules: avoid political cases and family cases--because nothing good comes of either of them. Unfortunately, since Albia isn't good at avoiding either, it's really more of a guideline. So when her Aunt Junia demands Albia track down a couple of deadbeats who owe her money, it's an offer Albia can't refuse. It turns...

When a sacred women's rite, presided over by Caesar's spouse, Pompeia, is infiltrated by a corrupt patrician dressed in female garb, Caeciliuis Metellus the Younger, an experienced detective, steps in to investigate.

Roman citizen Marcus Didius Falco welcomes a treason investigation commissioned by the emperor after Helena Justina, a beauty of privilege, breaks his heart, but finds more trouble than he expected.

He would rise up as savior of the state, but Decius Caecilius Metellus the Younger already has a lot on his mind. In the year of aedileship, Decius is expected to stage elaborate and expensive games out of his own pocket. Along with his duties of pleasing the crowds with the feats of gladiators and wild beasts are the more practical and commonly neglected ones of maintaining the city and its laws. It is these more mundane duties that call him to the...

A man falls to his death from the Tarpeian Rock, which overlooks the Forum in the Capitoline Hill in Ancient Rome. While it looks like a suicide, one witness swears that she saw it happen and that he was pushed. Normally, this would attract very little official notice but this man happened to be in charge of organizing the Imperial Triumphs demanded by the emperor. The Emperor Domitian, autocratic and erratic, has decided that he deserves two Triumphs...

"In Rome, 89 A.D., poisonings, murders, and a bloody gang war of retribution breaks out during the festival of Saturnalia, and when her husband, Tiberius, becomes a target, it's time for Flavia Albia to take matters into her own hands -- in Lindsey Davis's next historical mystery, A Comedy of Terrors. Flavia Albia, daughter and successor of private informer Marcus Didius Falco is twiddling her thumbs with no clients during the December festival of...