While I am "trying out" (that would be . . . trying to choose just one to read) Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine novels to whittle the choices down to just one read, let me tell you a little something about Flavia Albia. I picked up the first of the Flavia Albia mysteries to read over the weekend. Hmm. Looking at my sidebar I would seem that all my current mystery reading is of the "historical" sort, but this one goes back much further in time. I have never read anything earlier than a 17th century setting, and then probably not too many of those either.
A week or so ago I was at the bookstore and saw the newest Flavia mystery on the new books shelf and it caught my attention. Given the choice I almost always start with the first book, so I brought home The Ides of April. Although this is the first of the series, this is actually a spin-off of another long running series of books by Lindsey Davis. I bet they are good, but Flavia appeals just a tad bit more than her father (technically stepfather?), Marcus Didius Falco (or known just as Falco).
So, this is all completely new to me. New author, new series, new characters and most importantly new period of time. One in which I know practically nothing. Should I admit that you could tell me anything and I would probably believe you (as long as it wasn't too much of a stretch). But you have to start somewhere. This is what I have gleaned so far from what little I have read:
Flavia was adopted.
She is a widow.
She is twenty-eight.
She lives in Rome, on the Aventine Hill.
It is AD 89.
Imperial Rome during the reign of Domitian.
She is what is known as a private informer (like a private investigator?).
She has a sharp tongue and a good head on her shoulders.
Since she is a woman she gets the bottom of the barrel in terms of choice cases to investigate.
Oh, she was not born in Rome, but a thousand miles away "in a backwoods town that had been laid waste in a revolt and still lacked interesting architecture).
I think she must mean Britain.
This is going to be an interesting read for a variety of reasons. I suspect I am going to learn all sorts of little tidbits about Roman Society ca. 89 AD, particularly about Roman women. It already promises to be entertaining, not least because Flavia is likable and spunky. I find it interesting, too, because of the language used in telling the story. I am not sure what I was expecting--but this has a more modern flare to it. It was a little jarring first, but I think it is going to work out okay. I don't mind a little poetic license or even some suspension of disbelief. Here's a little teaser to give you a taste:
"I was at a loose end myself now, but a presentable woman of twenty-eight may not take herself to bars alone, apart from the speedy-breakfast kind where you can have a pastry and a hot drink before most members of the public are up. Even then, you have to look as if you keep a salad stall; riding in on donkey at dawn from a market garden way out on the Campagna gives a woman a legitimate cause for sustenance. Otherwise, it is obvious to everyone you must be touting for paid sex. The men with randy propositions are bad enough; the furious grannies hurling curses at you soon become unbearable. Roman grannies really know how to hustle a flighty bit off their street by giving her the evil eye. The worst of them do it to everyone, just in case they miss one."
I actually love her irreverent voice, even if I wonder about the telling of a story set in Ancient Rome and what it should sound like. Does anyone read Falco/Flavia? I'm curious what other reader's thoughts are on the books and reading about this era. I might even go back and read the first Falco book later. In any case, I think this is going to be great fun, and Davis is surely on to something going by the many awards she has won for her books!