| The Silver Pigs: A Marcus Didius Falco Mystery (Marcus Didius Falco Mysteries) | 
 enlarge | Author: Lindsey Davis
Publisher: St. Martin's Minotaur
Category: Book
List Price: $6.99
Buy Used: $2.47
You Save: $4.52 (65%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  10 reviews
Sales Rank: 45519
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 6.7 x 4.1 x 1.2
ISBN: 031235777X
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN: 9780312357771
ASIN: 031235777X
Publication Date: October 3, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: **Books may NOT include Online Access Codes (InfoTrac, MyEconLab).** Books MAY contain highlighting, writing, and/or bent pages. We ship M - F.
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Product Description
When Marcus Didius Falco, a Roman “informer” who has a nose for trouble that’s sharper than most, encounters Sosia Camillina in the Forum, he senses immediately all is not right with the pretty girl. She confesses to him that she is fleeing for her life, and Falco makes the rash decision to rescue her—a decision he will come to regret. For Sosia bears a heavy burden: as heavy as a pile of stolen Imperial ingots, in fact. Matters just get more complicated when Falco meets Helena Justina, a Senator’s daughter who is connected to the very same traitors he has sworn to expose. Soon Falco finds himself swept from the perilous back alleys of Ancient Rome to the silver mines of distant Britain—and up against a cabal of traitors with blood on their hands and no compunction whatsoever to do away with a snooping plebe like Falco….
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| Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
 addicting October 10, 2008
Great series! I'm hooked. I finished this book (the first in the series) in two sittings, bought the next two books and devoured them just as fast, have just ordered the next few. Witty, romantic and historically accurate.
 The Silver Pigs September 30, 2008
Lindsey Davis writes about ancient Rome with a modern detective twist. An easy read and good story. You will like Falco. Glad they have been republished in the U.S.
Lindsey Davis Silver Pigs are wonderful! September 24, 2008
I'm reading all the Lindsey Davis books..the Falco series. They are very, very entertaining, amusing, and descriptive of life in Ancient Rome. They are a very good read! Silver Pigs is the first one, and is still in print! Many of them are not. Some are on audio books. All are wonderful...So... enjoy!
A very enjoyable romp July 21, 2008
The first thing to know is that you should avoid Lindsey Davis if you must have the "locked room" style of heavy thinking mystery. She doesn't write those. The Falco mysteries are just a fun excuse for her to write about Roman times with too modern people.
However, if you do want a great example of a simple mystery, fun and enjoyable, with a fun romance thrown into the middle of it, grab The Silver Pigs. It's a wonderful, light hearted read.
Falco's a detective in ancient Roman times, in Vespasian's day. As he also was once posted in the North during his army days, it's up to him to figure out a mystery that stretches from Rome to occupied Britain. On the way, the lower class guy meets an upper class gal and the expected romance ensues. As said, the characters are too modern, but she did her research on Roman times, and the fly-by history is also enjoyable.
I'll repeat, it gets a 5 not because it's a classic novel but rather because it was one of the more enjoyable books I've read in a while. The rest of the series has its ups and downs, but the first book sets a great tone. Read it.
Rolled My Eyes, Said OK Dear, I'll Read It... Now I'm Hooked November 18, 2007
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
My wife talked me into reading Two for the Lions which was NOT a good place to start with this series but she'd already taken the earlier books to our used book exchange when she saw I wasn't interested. It took me a while to get the tempo of what was going on in Two for the Lions, but once I did, I was hooked. I made her go back to the used book exchange and find the earlier books. I tore through Silver Pigs and I'm now in the middle of Shadows in Bronze and I can't put it down.
So far I love this series. See, normally I prefer reading non-fiction books ranging in topic from cosmology to religion to jazz musicians like Miles Davis to weirdos like Frank Zappa and rockers like the Rolling Stones. I did enjoy Tony Hillerman's mysteries based on Southwest Indian reservations because the reader gets to learn something about American Indian culture. That's why my wife thought I'd enjoy the Falco chronicles.
Davis' writing is superb. I really didn't know much about ancient Rome other than the usual Hollywood stuff and Biblical writings. Each book seems to focus on a real life aspect (gladiators, ancient Britain and the silver mines, slavery and freemen) of ancient Rome. The stories are built around the historically true Flavian dynasty (I think that's the correct term, I'm only just learning about this stuff). I have to admit that the series has indeed ignited an interest in ancient Roman history. So much so that, because I work for an airline, I seriously want to take a trip to Rome and Italy to see some of the things Davis describes. When we lived in England we made it a point to explore a lot of ancient ruins and sites. I've actually seen some of the things described in Silver Pigs first-hand so that's pretty cool too.
In summation, I find the characters enjoyable, the writing is witty, very descriptive (the reader can actually visit the scene in the mind's eye) and very educational. If you like that sort of thing in a book, go for it.
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