Flavia Alba's 12 year old (or possibly 11 year old) adoptive brother, Marcus Didius Alexander Postumus, goes to stay with his birth mother, Thalia -- she of the (in)famous python dance. When his dearest friend, a ferret called Ferret, disappears, Postumus assumes Jason the python has eaten him and plots vengeance.

Narrated by Postumus, this is very funny. I miss Falco's relatives in the new series, and Postumus is a true member of the clan. I hope he has further adventures, preferably narrated by himself. ( )

I really enjoyed this. As has been said, it's a bit of a misnomer to call it a Flavia Albia mystery, because it isn't one. Albia only gets mentioned, as the story is told by Marcus Didius Alexander Postumus, aged twelve (or probably eleven).

I loved Postumus as a character; he's bright, he's interested in everything, and he considers that most people are pretty weird and illogical, but he tries his best to do what's expected of him (up to a point). In trying to emulate the detective exploits of his adopted father and eldest sister, there is only one way things are going to go. And they do.

To be fair, there isn't really a great deal of actual plot here, but Postumus' unique voice makes up for that. It isn't so much a mystery story (because I guessed what the ending was going to be the minute I found out what the "mystery" was) as a story about how Postumus, who doesn't see the world the way most people do, deals with a new situation.

It reminded me a lot of that scene you get in action films where the hero walks out of the fireball, completely unperturbed, but with what appears to be a localised apocalypse happening behind him... ( )

The story had several good moments and it was fun seeing Falco, Helena Justina, and Flavia Albia through the eyes of Falco and Helena's eleven (or twelve)-year-old son Postumus. Except that I thought Postumus himself was annoying—as did many of the characters—and I was just as glad the story ended when it did. ( )