Bookish Quotes: Poseidon's Gold by Lindsey Davis

Today my bookish scrollish quote comes from Poseidon's Gold by Lindsey Davis, the fifth book in the Marcus Didius Falco series of mysteries which is set in Ancient Rome. Marcus's voice often reminds me of a hard-bitten gumshoe detective but when you make that setting Rome it means that we get really fun reads! The fact that the voice and characterisations are so well drawn in the series, I can see myself reading all 20 books in the series in due course!

The quote comes from page 129-130

The judge lived in an impressive house of the type I could easily covet. Worse, his house might even convince me to aspire to his rank.

It was a detached town villa just off the Vicus Longus, not too large and not too small; it had some fine rooms for impressing public visitors, but was arranged for decent privacy. Marponius never went down to Petro's meagre guardhouse; he had felons brought here for interviews. He had a social conscience. He wanted lags like me to discover the urge to reform through seeing what could come from more legitimate types of crime. Compared to speculation and usury, mere theft and murder began to look unprofitable and quite hard work. Even being an informer seemed a dead-end job.

I presented my person at a ponderous marble portico. The elaborate studs and shiny bronze door furniture were overdone to my mind, but as an auctioneer's son I had seen that much of the world has unsubtle taste. Under the frippery, it was a solid hardwood door. The judge simply belonged to the group that likes to ruin good material.

Marponius and I would never agree on decor. I was a spare-time poet with a refined nature, whose occupation called for a sensitive, humane approach. He was a dull thug from the middle rank who had made himself rich, and therefore significant, by selling scientific encyclopaedias to New Men. By New Men I mean ex-slaves and foreign immigrants; people with overflowing coffers but no education who want to appear cultured. They could afford to buy literary works by weight - and more importantly, they could fit themselves up with ranks of literate slaves to read the works aloud. In the shifting social strata of Rome there was plenty of scope for applying gloss to upstarts. So if a treatise was Greek, incomprehensible and came in twenty scrolls, Marponius had his team of scribes copy it out. He used best-quality papyrus, black gall ink, and highly scented sandalwood for the end pieces. Then he supplied the slaves with refined voices too. That was where the money lay. It was a neat trick. I wish I had thought of it.

Teaser Tuesday: The Iron Hand of Mars by Lindsey Davis

It is no great secret that I am a sucker for a series. I have way too many going on to keep up with and every now and again one falls by the wayside. Actually, it is more regular than every now and again! This is one of those series for me.

I am a little ashamed to say that I actually read the first book in this series over five years ago. It took me nearly two years to read the second book, and now, five years after reading the first book I am finally reading the third book in the series. There are actually now twenty books in the series, so at this stage I should catch up in about...oh....forty years or so!

It was hard to find a teaser to share because the voice of Falco is just so pervasive and there were just so many that I could have chosen from the early part of the book. He is like a jaded gumshoe detective but instead of living in New York in the 1930s he is in Ancient Rome. Like many of those style of detectives, Falco is down on his luck, just scraping by financially, and he often has women trouble as well! If it isn't full on trouble, it is definitely complicated!

This quote comes from page 38:

One thing was certain. I had committed domestic sacrilege. Helena Justina might overlook many insults, but my bumming off to Veii on her birthday was not one of the. The fact that I didn't know it was her birthday was irrelevant. I should have done.

"Didius Falco, Caesar ... " Before I was ready to concentrate on political matters, a major-domo who reeked of long-standing vanity and recently braised onions announced my name to the Emperor.

"That's a long face. What's up, Falco?"

"Woman trouble," I admitted.

Vespasian enjoyed a laugh. he threw back his great head and guffawed. "Want my advice?"

"Thanks, Caesar." I grinned. "At least this heartthrob didn't run off with my armpurse or elope with my best friend..."

We hit a small moment of stillness, as if the Emperor had remembered with disapproval who my latest heartthrob was.

From the subtitle (Death Lies Beyond the River Rhine) and from the back cover blurb we know that Marcus Didius Falco is about to be sent to Germany so it's going to be hard to fix his domestic issues from that kind of distance!

The Silver Pigs by Lindsey Davis

Rome, AD 70. The city melts under a scorching August sun. For Marcus Didius Falco, hard-bitten private investigator the summer holds few prospects other than spying on the faithless wives of the Empire's senators - and his broom-wielding mother sweeping out the latest rope dancer with the dust from his seedy sixth floor aparetment.

One day in the Forum, Falco comes across the very young, and very beautiful, Sosia Camillina. Saving her from the unwelcome attention of two jelly-brained thugs with kidnapping in mind, the chance encounter seems to open new horizons. But Rome is going through a critical and turbulent period. And somehow working on Sosia's behalf proves to be less straightforward that Falco could possibly guess. The appearance of a stolen silver pig (a silver-bearing ingot of lead) leads Falco to a plot to overthrow the new Emperor, Vespasian. Not that Falco cares over much for those who run the state, but th eprospects of Sosia and incoming funds proves irresistible.

Then a murder which dents even Falco's well-worn cynicism makes discovery of the conspirators his only reason to live - even if it does mean the dismal prospects of a country he had hoped to never see again. Britain in winter, the Mendips lead mines. Disguised as a slave, Falco is treated with harsh contempt and cruelty, putting his life in danger as he discovers how, and by whom, the ingots are smuggled. Add to that the firy pride of Helena Justina, the disdainful daughter of Sosia's senator uncle, and Falco's hardships double.

The discoveries Falco makes in this bleak land draw him inexorably into the heart of treachery and conspiracy at the highest levels. His return to Rome leads him further into the labyrinth of political greed - and love.

Written with the same dry humour as an American gumshoe novel and with an unerring eye for historical detail, The Silver Pigs introduces a serial hero in Marcus Didius Falco who could be Ancient Rome's answer to Philip Marlowe and Sam Spade.

And you thought that those books that I have listed for the From the Stacks challenge were just there to look pretty. Nope. It really IS my intention to read them.

Having said that, I am going to cheat big time and link to Rosario's review of this book. It is soooo darn hot here I can't think, and it is going to stay this way for at least another day. No sleep here tonight unfortunately!

I will say that one of the criticisms that I have heard from a couple of people about this series in general is that the main characters sounds too much like a modern American gumshoe detective, and he does, but that is completely part of the charm for me! He's so self deprecating and funny that you can't help but fall a bit in love with Marcus Didius Falco!

My rating: 4/5