Neat little critique of the publishing world. Some things haven't changed in 2000 years. Loved the sly humor. Falco took his time solving this case though, which I found a little unbelievable. But the ending was solid. ( )

Falco ve recompensada su dedicación a la literatura, pero lo que parecía un futuro brillante como escritor no tarda en torcerse y convertirse en una pesadilla. La súbita y misteriosa muerte de un escrito le obliga a introducirse en el peligroso mundo de las letras, lo que le llevará a descubrir los entresijos que se ocultan bajo el glamour. Pero debe enfrentarse además a varios problemas domésticos: su esposa Helena Justina se ha peleado con los constructores de su nueva cas, su padre está atravesando el peor momento de su vida, su hermana es acosada por Anácrites... demasiado para un hombre como Falco al que los acontecimientos acaban por sobrepasar. Como ya nos tiene acostumbrados la autora, esta vez la novela va sobre el mundo editorial y principalmente sobre escritos y agentes. La serie Marco Didio Falco recibió el Premio Sherlock.

Falco 12th mystery is set in the literacy world. Who killed the publisher/banker and why? ( )

Murder in the Slush Pile

This episode in the Roman crime saga takes us back to base in Rome for a romp in the worlds of classical publishing and banking, and of patronage. Those worlds have many similarities with their counterparts in our own time and no doubt draw on the author's own experiences at a time in her writing career when her writing has become successful enough to be financially self-sustaining.

Our hero Marcus Didius is headhunted by a wealthy publisher, but turns the proposed deal down as too exploitative. Shortly afterwards Chrysippus the publisher is found brutally murdered in his library - literally a body in the library, signalling that this is going to be in part a clever Agatha Christie spoof with Falco becoming more Poirot than Marlowe. Chrysippus is a Greek banker as well as a patron of the arts, but who wants him dead? A disgruntled author or a hard-up bank client? Or someone entirely different with a grievance? The Falcon family saga moves on, with cameos from Ma, Pa and bossy sister Junia as well as Maia the Nice One. Anacrites is scheming and romance comes for Petri. There's a nice swipe at writers groups, and a neat joke that you'll miss if you haven't studied Latin concerning the fate of a manuscript submitted by one Martialis.

If you wanted to meet Marcus Didius Falcon for the first time I'd suggest you didn't start here because in so many ways it's not typical. Best to begin at the beginning anyway.
( )

Murder in the Slush Pile

This episode in the Roman crime saga takes us back to base in Rome for a romp in the worlds of classical publishing and banking, and of patronage. Those worlds have many similarities with their counterparts in our own time and no doubt draw on the author's own experiences at a time in her writing career when her writing has become successful enough to be financially self-sustaining.

Our hero Marcus Didius is headhunted by a wealthy publisher, but turns the proposed deal down as too exploitative. Shortly afterwards Chrysippus the publisher is found brutally murdered in his library - literally a body in the library, signalling that this is going to be in part a clever Agatha Christie spoof with Falco becoming more Poirot than Marlowe. Chrysippus is a Greek banker as well as a patron of the arts, but who wants him dead? A disgruntled author or a hard-up bank client? Or someone entirely different with a grievance? The Falcon family saga moves on, with cameos from Ma, Pa and bossy sister Junia as well as Maia the Nice One. Anacrites is scheming and romance comes for Petri. There's a nice swipe at writers groups, and a neat joke that you'll miss if you haven't studied Latin concerning the fate of a manuscript submitted by one Martialis.

If you wanted to meet Marcus Didius Falcon for the first time I'd suggest you didn't start here because in so many ways it's not typical. Best to begin at the beginning anyway.
( )