Lindsey Davis

1949

Lindsey Davis is a key author for Roman historical mystery, combining crime fiction with everyday life in the empire.

Lindsey Davis was born in Birmingham in 1949 and studied English literature at the University of Oxford. She then spent more than a decade in the civil service before leaving to write full time. An early novel about the Roman emperor Vespasian and his lover Antonia Caenis was not immediately published, but the research led Davis toward a different protagonist: the private informer Marcus Didius Falco.

The Silver Pigs, published in 1989, launched a long series that combines detective fiction with the politics and everyday administration of the Roman Empire. Falco investigates corruption, murder and imperial schemes while dealing with rent, family obligations and the complications of his relationship with Helena Justina. Davis later continued the world through the Flavia Albia series, centred on Falco’s adopted daughter. Her fiction is informed by close historical research but avoids treating Rome as remote or ceremonial; markets, construction sites, courts and cramped housing are as important as palaces. The result is a humorous and socially observant version of ancient life, especially suited to readers interested in Vespasian’s reign, urban Rome and historical mysteries.

Periods and events

Ancient Rome Imperial Rome Flavian Dynasty Reign of Domitian Roman Urban Crime and the Vigiles Roman Festivals and Public Entertainment Roman Law, Slavery and Inheritance Reign of Vespasian Batavian Revolt Roman Germania and the Rhine Frontier Roman Conquest of Britain Roman Gladiatorial Games Roman Britain under the Flavians Roman Britain

Series

Series by Lindsey Davis (2 series)

Flavia Albia in Order

by Lindsey Davis 14 books 4.4

The Flavia Albia mysteries follow the British-born adopted daughter of Marcus Didius Falco as she works as a private informer in Rome during the reign of Domitian. Beginning in AD 89, the series moves through the Aventine, imperial building sites, gardens, courts and festival districts while Albia builds…