I Read Books: The Jupiter Myth

 

The Jupiter Myth

After dealing with the problems on a building site in Southern Britain, Falco and his party head for Londinium where his wife Helena’s uncle is Fiscal Procurator for the province. Unfortunately one of the principals in the previous case turns up dead; a relative of the Great King, a British nobleman, who had been offered exile rather than a formal trial.

It seems that not all is well in Londinium. A British nobleman found drowned in the well in the back of a tavern is only the tip of the iceberg. It becomes clear that no one knows or has seen anything – because there is a violent extortion racket. A bakery that refused to pay is burned down; a homeless orphan saves some dogs in the chaos and Falco and Helena take her in. Distrustful, she causes trouble and Falco takes her into town and gives her a choice; to stay with them or leave. She’s kidnapped to a brothel, which of course is also part of the extortion ring.

Lots of people have come to Britain for a new start. Falco is surprised to meet an old girlfriend, once a rope-dancer, now the leader of a troupe of female gladiators. And again the extortion racket is moving in on them. Falco and his friend Petro discover a familiar face behind it.

Moving the action to first century Londinium, the actual plot is convoluted, yet all leads to the same place. There are personal tragedies and the villains are especially nasty. The choice to bring in characters from previous books (either featured or implied) and send them to the ends of the Empire seems more arbitrary than people unexpectedly ending up in Rome, and this is the second book in a row with it. Yet without coincidence Falco would be chasing cheating wives and embezzling employees so we can hardly complain.

Read This: More ancient Roman crime, this time in Britain
Don’t Read This: More ancient Roman crime, this time in Britain