Poseidon's Gold

Poseidon's Gold is the fifth novel in Lindsey Davis' Falco sequence. And as usual with Falco, it's an enjoyable romp through Imperial Rome. Falco fans will love this one, it fills in a lot of gaps in the Falco family history, and answers quite a few mysteries. It's also a cracking detective story guaranteed to delight even those who are new to Falco.

Falco returns from a mission to Germany (featured in the last Falco novel The Iron Hand Of Mars), to find that a centurion, Censorinus, has moved into his mother's house, and is demanding money with menaces from a deal that had been brokered by Falco's deceased brother, Festus - a hero of the Judeaen wars. Falco sends Censorinus packing, but when the legionnaire turns up dead, Falco becomes the prime suspect. Our hero then has a limited time to exonerate both himself and his beloved Helena Justina, and to restore the reputation of the family hero.

The murder that acts as the catalyst for the novel is actually quite easily explained, and will probably not present too much of a challenge to solve by the enthusiastic crime fiction afficionado. What is much more complex is the resolution of an art fraud, which turns out to be more important than the murder to the Falco family and their perception of the family hero, Festus. Entertaining and a cracking read, this is a great fun romp.