Jennie's B(ook)log

Title: See Delphi and Die
Author: Lindsey Davis
Published: 2005, St. Martin's Minotaur
Category: Mystery
Rating: 8/10

This is the 17th in the Marcus Didius Falco mystery series. I've been slightly disappointed by the last few of these, but this one was tops! That's the Falco I know and love.

Roman informer Falco and his wife Helena head to Greece in this one. Helena's brother Aulus is studying there to be a lawyer and has stumbled across a mystery (of course!). Seems like two young female tourists have died under suspicious circumstances. Falco decides to meet up with Aulus and do some digging. Both the victims were on tours set up by the same Roman tourist agency. All their fellow tourists, as well as the agency owners are suspects.

I can't quite put my finger on why this one was so much more interesting to me than the last few. Possibly the setting, which was fantastic. Falco's never been to Greece before, I don't think. They go to several cities and since Falco and Helena are behaving as tourists, we get a lot more description of the sights. Greek myths, oracles--so interesting. And I found the mystery particularly good. It's sort of like the old dinner-party plotline--a group of near-strangers who are all stuck together and one of them is the murderer. But who, who?!

This is Davis's first book with her new publisher. New jacket design, which I like. But they didn't Americanize the text, which I find distracting. And they did not provide site maps of the places Falco visits. I love looking at site maps, so I was disappointed.

I won't hold this against them though, because they did reissue the first Falco mystery, Silver Pigs. This is excellent news, as it's been out of print for a while. I need to buy a copy--my old one is falling apart!