This was not the best book in the Flavia Albia series. The story was very simple, and it felt drawn out. The murder was very predictable. What the Flavia Albia’s series is best known for is the humor. However, this was not a very funny book. Instead, it was rather dark and depressing. I hope the next novel in the series will have more humor. Still, the best feature in the novel is the Ancient Roman setting!

This was an ok read. I had a hard time staying engaged with the story because it felt like it jumped around. I know this is set in the first century, but at times if felt like the present. I didn't think it was as suspenseful as the blurb touted, but that is just me. I thought the characters were interesting and the concept for the story was interesting.

A bit disappointing…

I have been a big fan of Lindsey Davis’ original Falco series and spin-off Flavia Albia books for years. I’ve enjoyed Falco’s snark, Helena Justina’s class, Falco and Helena Justina’s odd and happy partnership, Falco’s odder and somewhat hapless family, Helena Justina’s almost as hapless brothers, Flavia Albia’s own style of snark, etc. etc. etc. But unfortunately, I had a hard time enjoying the latest Flavia Albia book, A Desperate Undertaking.

Undertaking starts off as a fairly standard Flavia Albia case, albeit one that she has poached from her father while he and the rest of the family are off in Ostia. Rather quickly, however, we get hints that all is not what it seems, and that the past may be coming back to haunt her. But it seems to be Falco’s past, not hers...

A series of gruesome murders follows, all of which seem to be linked to various myths and dramas - Pasiphae, Oedipus Rex, Orpheus, Jason, and others. So Flavia Albia has to figure out what is going on, and how to stop the killings. All of which is well and good, but somehow this was all just a little too much: too many deaths, too many allusions to the past, and too much unpleasantness. We still have Flavia Albia’s trademark quick, sharp wit and investigative chops to enjoy - but they were hard to appreciate in the midst of everything else. I’ve never had problems finishing one of Davis’ books before, and in fact, have re-read most of them, but I had a hard time finishing this one.

In the end, I’m not going to give up on the series, and I very much hope that Davis reverts to form in Flavia Albia’s next outing. And, as mentioned above, there were enough familiar elements that I’m still glad I read Desperate Undertaking. But it was a close thing, and that means a rare three-star review from me.

And finally, my thanks to the appropriately named publisher, Minotaur Books, and to NetGalley for my review copy!

Who’s Killing the Actors of Rome?

In 1989 Lindsey Davis first wrote about the adventures of Marcus Didius Falco, a Roman informer (private investigator) in First Century AD Ancient Rome. After 20 novels Falco aged out. Davis continued introduced a new line of mystery novels featuring Falco’s adopted daughter, Flavia Albia as the investigator.

“Desperate Undertaking,” by Lindsey Davis is the tenth Flavia Albia novel. It starts at Saturnalia. Domitian is Emperor. Falco is off out of Rome, celebrating the season. Flavia Albia is holding down the fort at Falco’s auction house.

When an old acquaintance of Falco shows up, seeking to hire Falco for an investigation, Albia does what Falco taught her to do and would expect her to do. She poaches his client, convincing the man to hire her for the investigation. Chremes runs a theatrical troupe with his wife Phrygia. He was murdered in a particularly gruesome way, crucified, mimicking the final scene of the play Laureolas. (The play ends with the death by crucifixion of the main character, usually played by a condemned criminal. Theater in Ancient Rome was a full-contact sport.)

Albia agrees to investigate hoping to be paid by the dead man’s spouse. Before Albia can meet her, she ends up dead, too, killed in an equally theatrical manner mimicking the death scene from another play. Soon others are being killed in a similar manner. Their deaths are taken from scenes in different Roman plays. Those dying are associated in some way with the acting troupe run by Chremes and Phrygia.

The murders take preparation and effort. The humiliating and painful ways the victims meet their deaths indicate the killer (or killers – whoever is organizing these deaths needs assistance) have a deep-felt grudge against the victims. Albia believes the motive lies in the mutual past of all the dead. Something happened when they were in the Eastern Mediterranean. If she can find out what she can find out whom. The problem is those that might know are dying before Albia can question them. And whomever is behind this may be going after Albia, too, to stop her investigation.

“Desperate Undertaking” may be the most elaborate mystery yet written by Lindsey Davis. It brings characters from her past novels into the story, adding charm for long-time readers. It delivers a fast-paced and exciting story. If you have read and enjoyed Falco and Flavia Albia’s past adventures, you will like this one.

Loved it!!!! I am really picky about the mysteries I read so when I say this writer snags me every time its something! If you are a fan of history or mysteries read this book!!!

Years ago, a friend of mine introduced me to Lindsey Davis and her Marcus Didius Falco books. I went on to enjoy twenty excellent reads, starting with The Silver Pigs, which was published in 1989. What Ms. Davis did well then and continues to do well now, is create the world of ancient Rome and then people it with characters with whom readers will want to spend time.

Desperate Undertakings is the tenth novel in the Flavia Alba series. Fans of Didius Falco and his spouse already know that Flavia is their daughter. She has many of her parents’ qualities and these help her in figuring out the situations in which she becomes embroiled. Who is killing the Romans? What is the meaning of their dying words? Find out with Flavia. You’ll be glad that you did.

If it turns out the Lindsey Davis is an author for you and this is your first book by her, you have some fantastic reads ahead. Lucky you.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press-Minotaur for this title. All opinions are my own.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books for access to this arc.

By this point Manlius Faustus, Flavia Albia’s husband and soon to be former aedile, knows to pretty much just step aside and let her rip. Once Albia’s got the bit of a new mystery between her teeth, not her husband, not her family, not her household, and certainly not the Vigiles are going to stop her from chasing down clues and catching the killer. This time there is more than one – well, the staging and amount of effort that have been put into the murders make that clear. But no one seems able to catch them before the next elaborately staged homage to the gruesome death scenes of classic plays play out.

Albia, as is her wont, fills in any lack of knowledge a reader might have about ancient Rome and, in this case, several well known plays. As she wanders around the city rattling off street directions, discussing famous buildings and (usually) critiquing the famous men who had them built, Albia acts as a sort of murder investigation tour guide.

On the first day, two horrific murders take place which Albia and Mucius (you’ve really got to feel sorry for him), the investigating officer of the VII Cohort of Vigiles, must solve. Albia is going to solve it because her adopted parents knew the victims years ago and Mucius is going to do his best (despite his tribune) because he’s an honest man though not one above using the threat of the vigiles against suspects. Well, at least we’re not talking about the Urban Cohort.

The murders are … gruesome. They are designed to be horrific, to shock the people who discover them, and to (probably) terrify the victims before their deaths. Albia quickly realizes that whoever is behind this is driven by deeply personal rage against specific people. He (most likely) is also damn lucky in that there is a lot of planning involved in these killings with a lot of props and staging needed yet no one seems to have noticed any of it or if they did, they don’t care enough to pay attention. Yet there are clues and Albia swiftly begins to follow up on them. Only more deaths occur even though now people are on the alert and the killer has had the audacity to leave advanced notice.

Many people who might know something must be interviewed, an elaborate funeral must be carried out, Tiberius and Albia – along with several actors and others (including two vigiles who love to discuss the meaning behind the actions in plays) dissect death scenes in plays and wonder if these will be the next to be used. Oh, and Albia has to try and decide who is lying to her (usually everyone to some degree) and what she can believe.

I’m disappointed to say that Albia – clever though she still is – let me down a bit. Several times, actually. She deduces that the killer is probably known to her parents and discusses with us the fact that she ought to write Falco and Helena Justina and ask “Hey, do you remember anyone who might …?” but then dismisses doing this because she wants to be the one to solve the crimes. And then several times she essentially “goes into the basement alone” while the killers are still loose. Yeah, I rolled my eyes and mentally groaned “no, she isn’t?!” quite a few times.

Still I enjoyed watching her best most of the men around her and use her brain to sift through the clues even if one is unnecessarily cryptic. No, she shouldn’t have let her temper goad her into stalking off a few times but she – along with a few others – gets the job done. But this book isn’t so much a whodunnit as a “watch Albia catch the killer

Spoiler: Show

What kept me interested is the wonderful way ancient Rome is brought to life and the snarky humor, though I wish Manlius Faustus and their household had played larger roles. B-

First there was Marcus Didius Falco, private informer of Rome. Now we have the adventures of his daughter, Flavia Alba. A worthy successor of her adoptive father,
Flavia undertakes this humdinger of a case and solves it, not without some cost to herself.

Lyndsey Davis is a seasoned writer. and she pulls out all the stops for this one. This is an exhilarating, funny, and entertaining romp through Rome of two thousand years ago. Highly recommended.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC

Desperate Undertaking is the 10th book in the Flavia Albia Mystery historical series by Lindsey Davis. I started this series with....this one. Sigh. This series is the follow-up to her previous one, Marcus Didius Falco, which stars our current heroine's adoptive father. Nope, haven't read any of those books, either. I highly recommend starting this series from its beginning. I enjoyed this story, but it took me a while to get into its rhythm and learn about our star.

Flavia Albia, daughter of Marcus Didius Falco, has taken over her father's business as a private informer in Rome in the first century, under Domitian's reign. In her father's absence, Flavia is requested to investigate the brutal murders of Chremes and his wife, Phrygia, the leaders of an acting troupe. It appears that the murders are being based on plays which contain horrid murders. Flavia suspects that the killer (killers?) are either members of the acting troupe or from The Farcicals, an amateur group that was unhappy with Chremes and Phrygia. Before she died, Phrygia gasps to Flavia, "The undertaker did it," which just makes things more confusing. The death toll continues to climb; will Flavia be able to solve the oddest case of hers to date?

Since this was my first book in this series, it took me a while to wade through ancient Roman names, locations and positions such as vigilis, aedile, tribune and the like. I was so confused; I guess I didn't pay enough attention in school when learning about ancient Rome! Right off the bat, however, I liked Flavia Albia. She had a sense of humor and her snarky comments were very entertaining. She was a brave woman who sometimes ran toward trouble without thinking it through thoroughly at first. She was whip smart, too. Flavia had a softer side, as well. You could tell she absolutely adored her adoptive parents, her adeile husband Tiberius Manlius, their dog Barley and two children they fostered. It was the mystery, however, that really grabbed me. The murders were unique, to say the least. Crucifixion was horrid. We find out just how messy feeding bears can be. But death by bull? Well, let's not get into the particulars. Suffice it to say it was most...unpleasant. After taking a while to immerse myself in the story, it truly ended up being a captivating mystery. I'm just glad I have some of the previous books so I can bring myself up to speed!

I received an ARC of this book courtesy of the publisher and NetGalley. I received no compensation for my review, and all thoughts and opinions expressed are entirely my own.

Happiness to this reader is having a new Lindsey Davis Roman mystery in my hands. I clear my schedule and settle down to enjoy a well plotted, complicated and very entertaining puzzle. Flsvia Albia is set to solve her tenth case and she was learned her craft well thanks to her father Didius Falco. She is what we call a private investigator C. AD 89 in Rome. This case is her most complicated and dangerous so far and I enjoyed every paragraph.
When an actor comes searching for Falco's help. Flavia Albia steps in to take the case as her father in not available. It's a very strange and gruesome one with murders staged at various lovely locations, each with a theatrical connection. Her only clue is from a survivor who says the undertaker did it. There is a serial killer on the loose and more bodies are staged. Will Falvia Albia be able to solve the mystery before the killer can make her one of the deadly cast? On top of that there are changes coming for her family and some serious adjustments will have to be addressed.
My thanks to the publisher Minotaur and to NetGalley for giving me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

I received this book for free from Netgalley. That did not influence this review.

A new Lindsey Davis Flavia Albia mystery is being released this week, Desperate Undertaking. This is book ten in the series and continues the streak of consistently fast-paced entertaining historical mysteries set in Ancient Rome.

Albia is an informer/detective, the adopted daughter of Falco, an informer who starred in the author’s previous series. Although married to an aedile/magistrate, Tiberius, who helped with her earlier investigations, Albia prefers to work solo. Rather than a consistent partner, in each of the books she is helped or hindered by whichever of the fairly low-level Roman officials is tasked with dealing with crime in the various locales of Rome.

This novel focuses on Roman theater and acting troupes. A troupe in town to perform for a festival finds itself bereft of its two leaders/directors when they are gruesomely murdered. One victim, the wife, dies in front of Albia, naming “the undertaker” as her murderer.

While Albia investigates, she learns that this particular acting troupe was close to her adoptive parents way back when; in fact, they were friends and Falco even adapted plays for them. Other friends of friends make cameo appearances in the novel. (Falco, although not present, gets more page time than in previous books. There is also a hint that he still works part-time as an informer, rather than being fully retired.) This adds a nice thread of continuity to the two series.

As typical in the genre, more murders pile up as Albia races to discover the culprit. There is also danger to herself, since whoever the murderer is, he seems to have a vendetta against the whole troupe of performers and may consider her a stand-in for her absent father.

Albia’s cynical smart-alecky voice carries the story along. The detail-rich descriptions of Rome and Roman customs bring the ancient world to life. Book ten does not disappoint!

Somehow I'd missed this series until now but wow- that wasn't a problem at all. Set in 89 CE, it's a terrific procedural of sorts. Flavia might not be law enforcement but she's one heck of an investigator. She tells the story of murders of members of a theater company. While I'm usually not a fan of theater based mysteries, David makes this one come alive. It's twisty, that's for sure. Love the setting and she's a great character. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. Fans of the series will be very happy with this one as will new readers like me.

Nothing’s Worse Than Actors As Witnesses

The novel opens in a theater stage where a woman is being gored by a huge auroch. Before dying, she states that the undertaker did it. Outside the theater, someone has used a piece of charcoal to write an announcement of a play starting the victim. She and her husband manage a theatrical group that had put on a play during the recent Saturnalia. A theatrical friend of Falco arrives at the warehouse looking for Falco to look into a man who was crucified the night before on behalf of the man’s wife. He accepts Albia to look into the case. Soon after Albia learns that the man’s wife was the woman gored to death. This death scene also has an announcement of a play staring this victim written on the external wall. A very complicated and engrossing investigation starts.

There really is only one thread in this novel. It is the investigation and each chapter is in the voice of Flavia Albia. It is complex as all the victims except one all the major witnesses are in the actors or associated with the theatrical profession. Who is better to lie and mislead with a straight face than actors? Even back then, they often change names That makes the start complex. A nice aspect is that the action of this novel takes place in the Field of Mars that is new for Albia so there are new vigiles tribune, investigator and personnel. The main storyline was fresh to me, so my interest was captured. As events unfolded, the capture of my interest only strengthens.

To support the B-storyline there are two threads. One is continuing marriage to her aedile husband, and the other is her relationship with her parents and Falco’s auction business. Integrated well with the main storyline is her interactions with new vigiles personnel. She spends much time in thoughts about how to work with these new characters. Her interactions with another aedile also provide much insight into Albia’s character.

For the aspects of novels that can turn off some readers, there is not much to worry as for intimate scenes are a null. For profanity, it is mostly rude for a yellow-green flag with some British equivalents thrown in. Some of the violence is described in the more edgy as it occurs, but these focus on more on the actions of the witnesses than the victim. I give it a yellow flag. The biggest potential issue in this category is relance upon some of the story line in the sixth Falco novel, Last Act in Palmyra. I read this novel almost 20 years ago. I remember just the basic story. The author provides adequate background that I do not believe that you have missed something without reading it first. As usual, I did use my e-reader’s dictionary and Internet access to find the meaning of some British words and ancient Roman words. I recommend reading this novel on an e-reader with those capabilities.

The major issue that I feel that may be a disincentive is that all the characters with some with multiple names may cause the start of this novel not an easy read. If this is the first novel in this series and the Falco series, you may want to start with one of the other Flavia Albia novels. If you are an avid fan of these series, go for it. What I like are the new locations, different vigiles, and locations in this novel. I particularly like the great names of the bars patronized by the actors. The tension is maintained in that all the murders occur in a theatrical setting. Even Albia and her husband along with her parents appear to be potential victims.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel, but it is a little more complex than her previous novels in this series. The author did remain #1 in my Must-Read author rating. I am looking forward to reading her next novel in this series. I rate this novel with five stars.

I received a free e-book version of this novel through NetGalley from Minotaur Books. My review is based only by my own reading experience of this book. I wish to thank Minotaur Books for the opportunity to read and review this novel early.

Catch up with some old friends--from both Flavia Albia *and* her parents' past--in this theatrical mystery set in ancient Rome. The murders Albia must solve are not for the faint of heart!

Awesome! I can’t say how much I enjoy Lindsey Davis’s Albia and Falco books and this is a great installment. I hope it won’t be the last!

In Lindsey Davis's "Desperate Undertaking", it's AD 89 Rome and informer Marcus Didius Falco's adopted daughter Flavia Alba has moved into the limelight.

This episode begins with a murder, the dying woman saying that the undertaker did it. Someone lured the victim to meet her death by an ampitheatre battle bull. It's one of several staged murders, re-enacting scenes from popular theatre - why?

Can Flavia stop this 'grim pageant'? As always, Davis delivers an entertaining read set in a fascinating era.

A book set in Ancient Rome and you might be expecting a dry, ponderous, pedantic tome. Nope! This novel moves at a breakneck pace while providing the reader a real feel for the streets of ancient Rome. The main character, Flavia Alba, is a strong, sardonic characters investigating a gruesome series of murders targeting actors. Great historical mystery.

This author is talented and gifted at weaving a story of long ago…descriptive…thought provoking…I do not enjoy reading books written about this time period but others might…the book was sent to me electronically for review by Netgalley…

This may be my favorite Flavia Albia adventure to date! Lindsey Davis is that rare writer who only gets better with each story she tells. Her command of history, her ability to place her readers so firmly in the seedy streets of Ancient Rome is so immense it makes you feel as though you have actually traveled through time.

This particular tale centers on a series of increasingly gory and dramatic murders of members of a traveling theater company. The traveling players, old friends of her parents Falco and Helena Justina, hire Flavia to find out who picking them off one by one and why. But as the murders increase in barbarity and fears that those closest to her might be next on the murderers list Flavia will need all her abilities (and sharpest retorts) to unmask the killer.

Everything about this book is entertaining. I would recommend this to any fan of historical mysteries or even ancient Roman history. The books are just as worth reading for Davis' impeccable research and the wonderful historical tidbits as they are for the mysterious goings on.

This is the 10th book in the historical fiction detective series featuring Flavia Albia. The series consists of “hard boiled” crime fiction set in Ancient Rome… which makes it very amusing on a meta level, as well as in fact, since the author adds a great deal of humor to the story.

The book begins in AD 89. Flavia Albia is the daughter of Marcus Didius Falco, a private informer (i.e., private investigator), and now Albia, the oldest child of Falco and Helena, has taken on that profession as well. Albia, close to 30, and married to Tiberius Manlius, an aedile (magistrate) about to retire, is a lot like her father in other ways: she has his commitment to dogged perseverance to solve a case, his sense of humor, and his penchant for snarky commentary.

The story involves some gruesome murders, all staged in area performance venues to replicate the plots of some gruesome plays. And in fact, the first murder is of Chremes, who, along with his wife Phrygia led a touring theater troupe. Chremes, found in Domitian’s Stadium, had been crucified according to the plot of the play Laureolus, as announced in a flyer tacked to the stadium. The killer wasn’t finished though, and other lethal reenactments follow. In fact, it begins to appear as though Albia might be a target as well.

Evaluation: This is such a fun series. With Davis’s creation of endearing characters and the educational setting in Ancient Rome, she has created a winning combination.