What do You think about Two For The Lions (2000)?
Imagine if Sam Spade had operated out of ancient Rome. Lindsey Davis has transplanted all the things that make up a good noir mystery novel to Rome in the reign of the Emperor Vespasian and shows us, people haven't changed much in a couple thousand years.Her descriptions of rome are so casual that you start to wonder if she does research or just has a time machine and pops back to double check details.Falco takes what he thinks will be easy money, check the accounts of several men that provide gladiators and animals for the arenas, for possible cheating on taxes.Instead he finds corruption, plots, hordes of women swooning outside the quarters of the 'star' gladiators, an escaped leopard and as always, trouble with his various family members.Clever mystery, great dialogue and descriptions and after awhile you forget that you are learning stuff as well.A great series where you can start at the beginning if you want, but you can also jump in anywhere and not feel lost.
—Travis
This was my last M. Didius Falco mystery, set during the reign of Vespasian. I have liked the Falco books very much but this was not the best one of the bunch. Falco is doing some work for the emperor - checking how people are living vs what they have reported on their taxes. In this role, he gets mixed up in a feud among 3 men who provide gladiators and wild animals for games. all 3 are jockeying to be on top when the Flavian Amphitheatre (aka the Coliseum) is completed. He's also tracking down his younger brother-in-law, who ran away with the older brother-in-law's betrothed. Although I learned interesting details about life in 1st-century rome and, in this case, its colonies in northern Africa (formerly known as Carthage), this plot just did not hang together for me.
—Nancy
It's been a while since I last read a Falco mystery, and Two for the Lions is a good one to pick up the general storyline and characters again. Marcus Didius Falco finds himself involved in a murder--albeit it's a dead lion found in a gladiator's menagerie--while doing another "dirty job" for the emperor, that of census auditor looking for lost tax revenue. He's partnered with his former nemesis, too, Anacrites the former chief spy. To make matters worse, Vespasian won't even pay him what he's owed for doing the work as promised from auditing Calliopus and Saturninus, the two most vengeful gladiator managers imaginable. When the gladiator Rumex is found murdered right under their noses, and the clues lead no where, Marcus has had enough. He and Helena take their baby daughter and go looking for Helena's runaway brother Justinus and his girlfriend Claudia. They two young lovers have been looking for a rare herb that could make them all rich and is only found in Cyrenaica. Once in north Africa, Marcus meets up with the two warring gladiator managers and a third, Hanno, along with the grieved Scilla, a woman who seems to know how to play the game better than any of them.An enjoyable read from beginning to end, my only complaint is that it just "ends" after a climactic gladiatorial contest, and I don't know what's become of Helena and the others. Oh, well, I guess I'll just have to read the next book in the series and find out!
—Cynthianna /Celine Chatillon
