A Dying Light in Corduba: A Marcus Didius Falco Mystery (Marcus Didius Falco, Book 8)
Lindsey Davis
Language: English
Pages: 259
ISBN: 2:00349719
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
Inimitable sleuth Falco is back with a vengeance. One night, a man is killed and Rome's Chief Spy left for dead. This leaves no one except Falco to conduct the investigation. Soon he is plunged into the fiercely competitive world of olive oil production. Political intrigue, an exotic Spanish dancer, and impending fatherhood all add to Falco's troubles.
Leprechaun in Late Winter (Magic Tree House, Book 43)
you, you were pinning the unclad Selia to a cosmetics table in Hispalis. I had not realised you were so sought-after.’ ‘Oh gods! You know what this means: I’m not just being beaten up by one female agent – Anacrites’ special charmer wants her turn as well!’ I was so depressed that Helena relented. She kissed me, fairly gently. Then she took me by the hand again, and led me away on stumbling feet to bed. LIV Grief-stricken women seem to make beelines for informers. It must be our comforting
as eager for cash in hand himself. ‘There could be various ways this would work for Laeta,’ I suggested slowly. ‘The most basic is the one I mentioned – a local cartel is set up, stage-managed by Attractus, and Laeta agrees that the state will allow it to exist provided he gets a large personal bribe. The next stage, more sophisticated, is that he exerts even more pressure; he says the cartel will only be allowed to continue if the Emperor gets a huge percentage of the profits.’ ‘That’s what I
No fraud – and no fun, either. Trust the bloody Greeks.’ ‘What’s this to do with Anacrites?’ ‘People pile information into his brain and if he’s in the right mood he farts out a report. In between, everything is locked up.’ ‘Well, it looks as if the next person he blows a report at could be Charon the ferryman.’ ‘Oh dear, poor Charon!’ sneered Momus, with the cheery expression of a man who was just thinking that if Anacrites had sailed away on the decrepit punt to Hades, he might immediately
provincial governor.’ With her deep hatred of injustice, Helena refused to give in. ‘Or the quaestor if he is sent to the regional court as the proconsul’s deputy,’ Optatus added. His voice was tight. ‘In Corduba that usually happens. The quaestor spares his proconsul the business of hearing pleas.’ Remembering that the new quaestor was to be Quinctius Quadratus, the son of the senator I had met and disliked in Rome, I was losing my confidence in the regional rule of law. ‘The quaestor may be
for somebody to throw them down a rope. XXXVI My social life was looking up. I was acquiring a full calendar, what with Optatus promising me japes among the bachelors of Corduba, and my free ticket down the Baetis. Had the elder Cyzacus been the sole reason for visiting Hispalis I might have dropped him as a suspect to interview, but there was also the negotiator Norbanus, who arranged ocean-going shipping from the downstream port. I might even trace the elusive and murderous ‘Selia’ –