Books

The Graveyard of the Hesperides

Flavia Albia, book 4

Manlius Faustus decides it is time he had a proper job, which Flavia Albia can only applaud. When he goes into the family business and starts renovating a bar, it can only be a matter of time (for this is a crime novel) before bodies start turning up. Does every low dive in ancient Rome have a longtime missing barmaid? Not to mention other buried bones that are destined to hold up the aedile’s project – bones that were clearly not put there by the landlord’s dog. Helped and hindered by members of the vigiles, Albia braces herself for a week of fast food among even faster bar staff, as she tackles the difficult task of solving a decade-old murder, not to mention learning what happened to that dog.

She is less delighted by her lover’s second idea: that to demonstrate their happy union publicly they should have a formal wedding. Her teenaged sisters think it a brilliant wheeze. Julia and Favonia throw themselves into planning the event regardless of cost and propriety, even bringing back Genius, the cook who can’t cook. For Albia it is a race against time to solve her case before she has to set aside her disgruntlement and put on the saffron veil like a happy bride. Meanwhile everyone is unaware of just how electrifying the gods will make this ceremony…

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‘If we divorce, can I keep the library?’ chosen by Priscilla Marten