Moses Greeley Parker Memorial Library (Dracut)

A comedy of terrors, Lindsey Davis

eng

technical information on music

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fiction

A comedy of terrors

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1254088546

Lindsey Davis

"In first century Rome, the December festival of Saturnalia is a celebration of the Sun's rebirth--nominally a time for family, for presents, for lights, but in reality it's a drunken riot. Wives plot to leave their husbands, husbands plot to spend more time with their mistresses. Masters must endure slaves taking obscene liberties, while aggressive slaves are learning to ape dangerous masters. And this year it's even worse than usual. Some people look forward to Saturnalia all year but not Flavia Albia. Albia, the daughter and successor of private informer Marcus Didius Falco, is twiddling her thumbs with no clients during the festival. Add to that the domestic stress of overexcited children (the two bereaved nephews, now part of the household) and bilious guests, everyone expects Albia to make everything run smoothly. But she doesn't want to be maternal, she wants to work. Meanwhile, her magistrate husband, Tiberius, and the Fourth Cohort are battling organized crime interests that are going to war over the festival nuts--nuts being both the snack and missile of choice of the tipsy celebrants. This year, a rival gang is horning in on the action, leading to a series of accidental poisonings, then bloody murders of rival nut-sellers, and finally a gruesome warning to Tiberius from the hidden criminal powers. With the forces of law and order on vacation with the rest of Rome, Albia and Tiberius must go it alone as the stakes rise, and the emperor himself becomes a target of the hidden criminal gangs."--, Provided by publisher

adult

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