The Grove of the Caesars

A Flavia Albia Novel

By: Lindsey Davis

Narrated by: Jane Collingwood

In the sacred grove of Julius Caesar, something deadly stirs in the undergrowth - a serial killer, who haunted the gardens for years, has claimed another victim - in Lindsey Davis' next historical mystery, The Grove of the Caesars.

At the feet of her adoptive father, renowned private informer Marcus Didius Falco, Flavia Albia learned a number of important rules. First and foremost - always keep one's distance from the palace, nothing good comes from that direction. But right behind it - murder is the business of the Vigiles, best to leave them to it.

Having broken the first rule more often than she'd like, it's no surprise to anyone when she finds herself breaking the second one. The public gardens named after the Caesars is a place nice girls are warned away from and when a series of bodies are uncovered, it seems that a serial killer has been haunting the grove for years. The case is assigned to one Julius Karus, a cohort of the Vigiles, but Albia is convinced that nothing will come of his efforts. Out of sympathy for the dead women and their grieving relatives, Albia decides to work with the vile Karus and bring the serial killer to justice.

A Macmillan Audio production from Minotaur Books

"The audacious Flavia Albia returns.... This one ends with a surprising conclusion that will make fans adore Flavia even more, if that is possible." (Booklist)

©2020 Lindsey Davis (P)2020 Macmillan Audio

Another great entry in the Falco series

These are always challenging, because the names are complex and there are so many of them. But I enjoy them just the same. Plus you get a little bit of Roman history, to go along side what you remember from I Claudius.

Love this author

Her books always take me to another world and place. Informative but not didactic. Her stories are entertaining and enjoyable.

Number 8 of 10

Love this collection of books. This is another good one in the series.
The narrator was very good.

Intrigue

If you like Lindsey Davis you will enjoy this entry in the saga of the Falco familia.

Best Flavia Albia book yet!

Please, please, please keep Jane Collingwood as Albia’s voice. She far and away is the best narrator for the series. She is Albia. Listening to her in this role is like having a chat with a good friend.

Thank you, Lindsey Davis, for another engaging adventure for Flavia Albia! I just discovered your series, and am hooked. I can’t wait for the next book! In the meantime, I will listen to the Falco series!

Forgers & Bibliomaniacs & Serial Killers, oh my!

Lindsey Davis has given us another fun outing with Flavia Albia.This time she's mostly on her own and missing husband Tiberius, who is out of town. She ends up working with the Vigiles and an agent of Caesar's to solve a murder and investigating the murky world of literature forging and the collectors who keep it in business,all the while juggling an ever expanding household and a house under seemingly eternal renovation. Wryly commenting on it all, Albia is a delightful narrator of her life in ancient Rome. You can read this as a one-off, bit I highly recommend the rest of the series and the Marcus Didius Falco series it came from. Jane Collingwood does an excellent job inhabiting Albia's character.

Albia continues to grow

This series grows on one. Albia is mellowing in some ways and there is more humor though her anger against injustice remains. The book starts after the “black banquet” an account of which is available as “An Invitation to Die” on Kindle but AFAIK, not in audiobook form

There are several intertwining plot lines and together with an exploration of fakes, provenance and bibliomaniac, they form a very entertaining performance. I found it hard to stop listening (the Audible equivalent of an unputdownable book!). Bring on the next one!

Great characters and performance

I love the character, the spirited, wild but sensible Flavia Albia. I am not a mystery murder novel type of reader, but love history and historic fiction, and the great characters have made me read all Flavia Albia books so far. There have been a couple of, oh, come on! occasions.
Also, I hope the stick into the performer. Collingwood's male voices are actually believable. She is doing an awesome job.

A story woven of many strands

I love Lyndsey Davis’ books. This one isn’t as dynamic as perhaps we’d like, but has threads running through that tie up very nicely, not obviously, but subtly - very clever writing. Very good story. Lots of history and culture filling out the reality of ancient Rome. As always, Miss Davis carries this off naturally, effortlessly.

Our narrator, Jane Collingwood, is very good. I do wish she’d been more dynamic in scenes. It would have given the book more of the colour and fury written in, but not quite verbally expressed. A good narration, but just not great.