Venus in Copper

Rome, AD 71. Marcus Didius Falco is desperate to leave the notorious Lautumiae prison — though being bailed out by his mother is a slight indignity.

Things go from bad to worse when a group of nouveau riche ex-slaves hire him to outwit a fortune-hunting redhead, whose husbands have a habit of dying accidentally, leaving him up against a female contortionist, her extra-friendly snake, indigestible cakes and rent racketeers. Meanwhile, he is trying to lure Helena Justina to live with him, a dangerous proposition given the notorious instability of Roman real estate. In a case of murder as complicated as he has ever faced.

This classic tale by Lindsey Davis, Venus in Copper, shows Falco at his very finest.