The Graveyard of the Hesperides is the fourth in Lindsey Davis' spin-off Flavia Albia series, featuring Falco's adopted daughter as the protagonist. I've quite liked the spin-off, maybe even a bit more than the original Falco series. Hmmmm...hard to say...probably depends on my mood at the time. Graveyard has dropped to $2.99 at Kindle and Kobo US.
Kindle US:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B019N4X5FK
Kindle US/Smile:
https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B019N4X5FK
Kobo US:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the...e-hesperides-2
Spoiler:
Quote:
In first century Rome, Flavia Albia, the daughter of Marcus Didius Falco, has taken up her father's former profession as an informer. On a typical day, it's small cases---cheating spouses, employees dipping into the till---but this isn't a typical day. Her beloved, the plebeian Manlius Faustus, has recently moved in and decided that they should get married in a big, showy ceremony as part of beginning a proper domestic life together. Also, his contracting firm has been renovating a rundown dive bar called The Garden of the Hesperides, only to uncover human remains buried in the backyard. There have been rumors for years that the previous owner of the bar, now deceased, killed a bar maid and these are presumably her remains. In the choice between planning a wedding and looking into a crime from long ago, Albia would much rather investigate a possible murder. Or murders, as more and more remains are uncovered, revealing that something truly horrible has been going on at the Hesperides.
As she gets closer to the truth behind the bodies in the backyard, Albia's investigation has put her in the cross-hairs---which might be the only way she'll get out of the wedding and away from all her relatives who are desperate to 'help.'
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EDIT/ADD: And
The Grove of the Caesars is the eighth and most recent (until July) in the Flavia Albia series. It's £0.99 at Kindle UK right now. Not sure if this is part of the monthly Kindle UK sale, or just that UK thing where they put most-recent-in-series titles at £0.99 for a brief time every now and then. So grab it now if you want it. I'll update later once I have time to look at the monthly sale, or @maddz may know already...
Kindle UK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07SVZZT8B
Kindle UK/Smile:
https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07SVZZT8B
Spoiler:
Quote:
Don't go to the Grove . . .
Julius Caesar left his gardens to the citizens of Rome, a peaceful sanctuary across the Tiber. Now the gardens and their sacred grove are dangerous haunts, especially for women alone.
'Don't go to the Grove,' people mutter, but when her husband has to leave Rome, it falls to Albia to supervise his building project in an old grotto. Why has someone buried tattered scrolls by obscure philosophers - and does it involve a worse crime than terrible writing?
Soon that puzzle is overtaken. A woman disappears from her husband's birthday party; she meets a dire fate, then Albia learns that on the same night, two louche slaves given to her family by the brooding Emperor Domitian also vanished in the gardens. Apparently, it is well known that a killer lurks there.
The vigiles have failed to investigate properly for decades and this won't improve when the sinister agent Karus arrives. Albia must co-operate, in order to give the many victims justice and find answers for grieving relatives. But can she herself remain safe? And, after others have failed, can she at last identify the predator who has made the Grove his killing ground?
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