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The Ides of April

Series: Flavia Albia
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( 3,946 ratings, 551 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Flavia Albia, the adopted daughter of a famous investigating family, defies tradition by living alone on Rome's Aventine Hill and carving out a solo career in a male-dominated world. When a female client dies mysteriously, Albia investigates a string of strange deaths across the city, despite warnings from authorities who seem distracted. Amidst organising the notorious Games of Ceres and a new romance with archivist Andronicus, Albia must navigate mayhem and a heartless killer stalking her familiar neighbourhood, bringing murder ever closer to home.

The Ides of April showcases Lindsey Davis’s trademark wit, intrigue, and action through a brilliant new heroine destined to stand alongside her celebrated predecessors in historical fiction.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

Fans of historical fiction, particularly stories set in ancient Rome with strong, clever female protagonists and intricate mystery plots, will find this novel especially appealing.

Book Hero thinking about your next read

Falco: the next generation. Introducing Flavia Albia.

Falco: the next generation. Introducing Flavia Albia.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Flavia Albia is the adopted daughter of a famous investigating family. In defiance of tradition, she lives alone on the colourful Aventine Hill and battles out a solo career in a male-dominated world. As a woman and an outsider, Albia has special insight into the best, and worst, of life in ancient Rome.

A female client dies in mysterious circumstances. Albia investigates and discovers there have been many other strange deaths all over the city, yet she is warned off by the authorities. The vigils are incompetent. The local magistrate is otherwise engaged, organising the Games of Ceres, notorious for its ancient fox-burning ritual. Even Albia herself is preoccupied with a new love affair: Andronicus, an attractive archivist, offers all that a love-starved young widow can want, even though she knows better than to take him home to meet the parents...

As the festival progresses, her neighbourhood descends into mayhem and becomes the heartless killer's territory. While Albia and her allies search for him, he stalks them through familiar byways and brings murder ever closer to home.

The Ides of April is vintage Lindsey Davis, offering wit, intrigue, action, and a brilliant new heroine who promises to be as celebrated as Marcus Didius Falco and Helena Justina, her fictional predecessors.

Series: Flavia Albia

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  • A Capitol Death
    A tragic accident . . . or was it? Emperor Domitian has been awarded (or rather, has demanded) yet another Triumph to celebrate two so-called victories. Preparations are going smoothly until one of the men overseeing arrangements for the celebration accidentally falls to his death from a cliff on the symbolic Capitoline Hill. But Flavia Albia suspects there's more to...
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    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • A Comedy of Terrors
    The Sunday Times Crime Club Star Pick 'Lighthearted, witty and effortlessly clever, just like its wonderful heroine, this is a window into ancient Rome, and a tonic and a joy to read' β€” The Observer Saturnalia, the Romans' mid-December feast, is nominally to celebrate the sun's rebirth but invariably turns into a drunken riot. Flavia Albia needs a case to...
    Paperback
    $2799
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  • Desperate Undertaking
    Rome, the very end of December. The Field of Mars is packed with monuments, none more beautiful than Domitian's new Odeon and Stadium. But the area has been overtaken by ugly events: elaborately staged murders. Someone bears a spectacular grudge against the theatrical community and intends to get revenge in the most spectacular way possible. The killer's method is to...
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  • Deadly Election
    Deadly Election is set in the blazing July heat of imperial Rome, where Flavia Albia inspects a decomposing corpse. It has been discovered in lots to be auctioned by her family business, so she is determined to identify the dead man and learn how he met his gruesome end. The investigation gives her a chance to work with the magistrate,...
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    $2799
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  • The Third Nero
    Flavia Albia's day-old marriage is in trouble: her new husband may be permanently disabled, and they have no funds. When Palace officials ask her to help expose a plotter in their midst, she is obliged to accept their commission. The plot could not be bigger. Ever since he died in AD 68, apparently by his own hand, Rome has been...
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  • The Graveyard of the Hesperides
    From renowned author Lindsey Davis, creator of the much-loved character, Marcus Didius Falco and his friends and family, comes the fourth novel in her all-new series set in ancient Rome. We first met Flavia Albia, Falco's feisty adopted daughter, in The Ides of April. Albia is a remarkable woman in what is very much a man's world: young, widowed and...
    Paperback
    $2799
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    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Ides of April
    Flavia Albia is the adopted daughter of a famous investigating family. In defiance of tradition, she lives alone on the colourful Aventine Hill and battles out a solo career in a male-dominated world. As a woman and an outsider, Albia has special insight into the best, and worst, of life in ancient Rome. A female client dies in mysterious circumstances....
    Paperback
    $2799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Grove of the Caesars
    'For a totally exhilarating romp through Ancient Rome, Lindsey Davis' latest Flavia Alba novel won't be beaten and offers an immersive experience of a vibrant world full of real, recognisable characters' - Mike Ripley, Shotsmag Don't go to the Grove . . . Julius Caesar left his gardens to the citizens of Rome, a peaceful sanctuary across the Tiber. Now...
    Paperback
    $2799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Enemies at Home
    We first met Flavia Albia, Falco's feisty adopted daughter, in The Ides of April. Albia is a remarkable woman in what is very much a man's world: young, widowed and fiercely independent, she lives alone on the Aventine Hill in Rome and makes a good living as a hired investigator. An outsider in more ways than one, Albia has unique...
    Paperback
    Sold Out
  • There Will Be Bodies
    Ten years after the eruption of Vesuvius, the surrounding countryside lies buried and barren. But the destroyed cities and luxury villas on the Bay of Naples are not utterly lost. Flavia Albia and her husband Tiberius Manlius are tasked with restoring one villa and identifying any surviving remains. What they unearth is beyond disturbing. When the volcano erupted, some people...
    Paperback
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  • Death on the Tiber
    Rome is in chaos. The empire of a mobster chief is falling apart following his death. Rivals, fearsome relatives and associates are taking up position to vie for the spoils. With hideous murders in the streets of Rome, a lone female traveller arrives with an agenda of her own. But when her corpse is dragged out of the river bearing...
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Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Though reviews quoted are for another title, Master and God, they praise Lindsey Davis’s vivid descriptions, rapid narrative, sharp detail, and skilful blend of humour and historical fact, resulting in compelling and immersive storytelling.

Book Hero reading reviews

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781444755848

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 26 September 2013

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Hodder Paperback

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 26.0mm

Width: 130.0mm

Height: 196.0mm

Weight: 288g

Pages: 368

About the Author

Historical novelist Lindsey Davis is best known for The Course of Honour, the true story of the Emperor Vespasian and his mistress Caenis, and for her twenty volume mystery series featuring Roman detective, Marcus Didius Falco, with its recent addition of Falco: the Official Companion, a cheery handbook for readers. She has also written Rebels and Traitors, an epic novel set in the English Civil War and Commonwealth.

She has won the CWA Historical Dagger, Dagger in the Library, and a Sherlock for Falco as Best Detective. She has been Honorary President of the Classical Association, and Chair of the Crimewriters Association. In 2010 the city of Rome gave her the Premio Colosseo, awarded 'for enhancing the image of Rome' and in 2011 she was awarded the CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger for lifetime achievement.

Also by Lindsey Davis

View all
  • A Capitol Death
    A tragic accident . . . or was it? Emperor Domitian has been awarded (or rather, has demanded) yet another Triumph to celebrate two so-called victories. Preparations are going smoothly until one of the men overseeing arrangements for the celebration accidentally falls to his death from a cliff on the symbolic Capitoline Hill. But Flavia Albia suspects there's more to...
    Paperback
    $2799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • A Comedy of Terrors
    The Sunday Times Crime Club Star Pick 'Lighthearted, witty and effortlessly clever, just like its wonderful heroine, this is a window into ancient Rome, and a tonic and a joy to read' β€” The Observer Saturnalia, the Romans' mid-December feast, is nominally to celebrate the sun's rebirth but invariably turns into a drunken riot. Flavia Albia needs a case to...
    Paperback
    $2799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Desperate Undertaking
    Rome, the very end of December. The Field of Mars is packed with monuments, none more beautiful than Domitian's new Odeon and Stadium. But the area has been overtaken by ugly events: elaborately staged murders. Someone bears a spectacular grudge against the theatrical community and intends to get revenge in the most spectacular way possible. The killer's method is to...
    Paperback
    $2799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Voices of Rome
    Lindsey Davis has received the Crime Writers' Association Lifetime Achievement Award for her two immortal series of detective novels featuring Marcus Didius Falco and his adopted daughter, Flavia Albia. She is regarded as the finest living novelist of Ancient Rome. Here, for the first time in book form, are four novella-length stories written to illuminate her unparalleled output of the...
    Paperback
    $5000
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    Ships in 2-3 weeks
  • The Third Nero
    Flavia Albia's day-old marriage is in trouble: her new husband may be permanently disabled, and they have no funds. When Palace officials ask her to help expose a plotter in their midst, she is obliged to accept their commission. The plot could not be bigger. Ever since he died in AD 68, apparently by his own hand, Rome has been...
    Paperback
    $2799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Voices of Rome
    Lindsey Davis has received the Crime Writer's Association Lifetime Achievement Award for her two immortal series of detective novels featuring Marcus Didius Falco and his adopted daughter, Flavia Albia. She is regarded as the finest living novelist of Ancient Rome. Here, for the first time in book form, are four novella-length stories written to illuminate her unparalleled output of the...
    Paperback
    $3799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Grove of the Caesars
    'For a totally exhilarating romp through Ancient Rome, Lindsey Davis' latest Flavia Alba novel won't be beaten and offers an immersive experience of a vibrant world full of real, recognisable characters' - Mike Ripley, Shotsmag Don't go to the Grove . . . Julius Caesar left his gardens to the citizens of Rome, a peaceful sanctuary across the Tiber. Now...
    Paperback
    $2799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Deadly Election
    Deadly Election is set in the blazing July heat of imperial Rome, where Flavia Albia inspects a decomposing corpse. It has been discovered in lots to be auctioned by her family business, so she is determined to identify the dead man and learn how he met his gruesome end. The investigation gives her a chance to work with the magistrate,...
    Paperback
    $2799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Graveyard of the Hesperides
    From renowned author Lindsey Davis, creator of the much-loved character, Marcus Didius Falco and his friends and family, comes the fourth novel in her all-new series set in ancient Rome. We first met Flavia Albia, Falco's feisty adopted daughter, in The Ides of April. Albia is a remarkable woman in what is very much a man's world: young, widowed and...
    Paperback
    $2799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Murder in Purple and Gold
    When Flavia Albia stumbles upon the murdered corpse of a young man near Rome's famous Circus Maximus, she is about to embark on one of her most dangerous and complicated cases.Rome and the Romans are obsessed with chariot racing. Lepo was the rising star of the Purples, a new team created by the psychotic Emperor Domitian with big money backing....
    Paperback
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  • Enemies at Home
    We first met Flavia Albia, Falco's feisty adopted daughter, in The Ides of April. Albia is a remarkable woman in what is very much a man's world: young, widowed and fiercely independent, she lives alone on the Aventine Hill in Rome and makes a good living as a hired investigator. An outsider in more ways than one, Albia has unique...
    Paperback
    Sold Out
  • There Will Be Bodies
    Ten years after the eruption of Vesuvius, the surrounding countryside lies buried and barren. But the destroyed cities and luxury villas on the Bay of Naples are not utterly lost. Flavia Albia and her husband Tiberius Manlius are tasked with restoring one villa and identifying any surviving remains. What they unearth is beyond disturbing. When the volcano erupted, some people...
    Paperback
    Sold Out

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