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Pandora's Boy

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Pandora's Boy

By: Lindsey Davis
Narrated by: Jane Collingwood
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Summary

 From the creator of Falco comes Falco: the new generation, featuring her unforgettable heroine Flavia Albia in her sixth novel.

Flavia Albia is a private investigator, always drawn to an intriguing puzzle - even if it is put to her by her new husband's hostile ex-wife. On the Quirinal Hill, Clodia Volumnia, a very young girl with stars in her eyes, has died, amid suggestions that she was poisoned by a love-potion. It will have been supplied by a local witch, who goes by the name of Pandora, though Albia learns that Pandora carries on a trade in herbal beauty products while hiding much more dangerous connections. Pandora's beloved grandson, a trainee hack lawyer, is one of the dead girl's empty-headed friends; can this be relevant?

As she homes in on the truth, Albia has to contend with the occult, organised crime, an unusual fertility symbol, and celebrity dining. She discovers the young girl was a handful; her father mediates in disputes, yet has divorced his grief-stricken wife and is now suing his own mother-in-law; Clodia's so-called friends were none too friendly. The supposedly sweet air of the Quirinal hides the smells of loose morality, casual betrayal and even gangland conflict. When a friend of her own is murdered, Albia determines to expose as much of this local sickness as she can - beginning with the truth about the death of little Clodia.

'Davis's prose is a lively joy, and Flavia's Rome is sinister and gloriously real.' The Times on Sunday

(P)2018 Hodder & Stoughton Limited©2018 Lindsey Davis Crime Fiction Detective Fiction Historical Mystery Women Sleuths Women's Fiction Marriage Crime Witchcraft Magic Users
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Critic reviews

Lindsey Davis has seen off all her competitors, notably US author Steven Saylor, to become the unassailable market leader in the 'crime in Ancient Rome' genre. Her books featuring the Roman sleuth Falco marry persuasive historical elements and compelling storytelling. In PANDORA'S BOY, the spotlight falls on Falco's strong-minded daughter Flavia. Davis's squalid, vibrant Rome is as pleasurable as ever.
For fans of crime fiction set in the ancient world, this one is not to be missed
The quite brilliant Lindsey Davis never fails with her witty mysteries set in first century Rome. From the dreadful 'Chelsea set' of rich young things, busy drinking their parents' money, to rip-off restaurants offering the gullible 'fresh oysters' from Britain; the artful street vendor selling lettuce as an aphrodisiac backed by the legend of a phallic Egyptian god; to pompous lawyers, backstreet bars and posh villas, first century Rome is there in its glorious and sinister reality. I guarantee if you are new to her work, by the time you've reached the final surprising denouement, you'll want to read more of it.
Praise for Lindsey Davis and the Flavia Albia series
Davis's prose is a lively joy, and Flavia's Rome is sinister and gloriously real.
Davis's books crackle with wit and knowledge. She has the happy knack of making the reader feel entirely immersed in Rome.
This excellent Roman mystery, enriched by Davis's characteristic wit and thorough understanding of the period, takes a darker turn as Flavia delves into Rome's poorest streets, rife with prostitution, exploitation, thuggery and murder.
All stars
Most relevant
Great historical fiction. Lots of interesting background about life under Domitian, and a fine whodunnit too. The reader, and perhaps also the story, really shine here. Flavia has become more likeable and the episodes about Roman witchcraft are great.

Best so far Flavia!

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This novel continues to place Flavia Albia at the centre of things and maintains a nod to her domestic world. For me the plot was a slow burn and it took a while for things to accelerate. As in a Falco novel this includes an Agatha Christie device. By the end it felt like preparation for a significant next novel. The audio-book is performed excellently and with energy. I look forward to the next in the series.

Slow Burn to Resolution

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Flavia finds herself getting more involved in family matters setting the scene for the next installment. I can't wait

Full of intrigue

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...thank goodness. Pretty good story, acceptable characters and quick pace. Our heroine resembles the Albia of the Falco series, finally.
Thank you.

Albia has finally arrived...

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The family tragedy of a teenage daughter found dead in bed, punch ups between grannies, accusations of witchcraft (Emperor Domitian persecutes mathematicians and philosophers, so any suggestion of magic..!) is only the end of a thread of a tangle of scandal and crime in the affluent quarters of Rome, in which Albia is rather reluctantly engaged, at the request of her husband’s snooty and superficial ex-wife.

The spoiled adolescents of rich families behave just as underemployed, indulged youngsters have done, ever since some parts of human society was able to support idleness and an unearned sense of entitlement.
We also have middle-aged hippy parents, “Stoics”, like stinky old Cato, old ‘68ers, perhaps, without the apostrophe for 1968, enjoying nettle beer and mild dissident activity, on a decent unearned income from hardworking ancestors, but under Domitian’s paranoid and murderous rule, dangerous acquaintances - think McCarthyism!

There’s organised crime, working towards superficial respectability and “establishment” status, generation by generation ... nothing new under the sun!

I love the Falco family. They get around, cross class and ethnic barriers and translate 1st century life with humour, which must have been present then, but has been either censored out, or unrecorded, or lost over time in surviving written texts. There is a lot of historical background on the social life of the Roman Empire of the 1st century presented in this series in easily digestible form, much unknown or ignored until recently.
Albia is resilient, using her hideous childhood as a resource, rather than an excuse for self-pity, funny, and, not being Roman by birth, capable of seeing beyond the accepted norms, but adapting when required. She has outgrown her adolescent door slamming and flouncing, once enhanced by her insecurities of adoption into an alien culture, early
deprivation and abuse, lack of identity.

I look forward to hearing more of her, and her younger siblings, especially the wee brother who has Asperger’s, son of the outrageous and engaging snake-dancer Thalia, and, allegedly, Falco’s roguish father..

Albia is back - Roman baddies beware!

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