I Read Books: Three Hands In The Fountain

 

Three Hands In The Fountain

Falco returns from Spain with his wife Helena, a new daughter and also an heiress that Helena is hoping will marry one of her brothers. Falco sneaks off to have a quiet drink with his friend Petro. Petro it turns out has been suspended from the vigils for having an affair with a gangster’s daughter, and also thrown out of his home when his wife found out. Falco lets him stay in his old apartment, and the two decide to go into partnership until Petro can get his life sorted out.

They immediately find a case. The fountain they’re leaning on is dry, but a water inspector arrives to fix it. He explains that it was blocked, by a hand that had somehow blocked the pipe. Where there’s a hand there’s a body; no one has been reporting missing limbs so they assume it’s a murder.

Investigating they discover that pieces of people – women – have been appearing in the river and the water supply for a number of years, especially just after festivals and games. Their investigation spins out of control. Anacrites, the Chief Spy and Falco’s rival, is convalescing after the events of A Dying Light In Corduba, takes on the water board’s investigation, tries to put them off and/or join up. When word gets out and there are widespread complaints the Emperor appoints a pro-consul to deal with it. This takes them on a tour of the aqueducts and sewers of ancient Rome, as well as a tour of the games and festivals, the dark and grimy side.

It's a first century Roman serial killer hunt. The status quo gets shaken up a bit, now Falco is a father. Looking for a partner, he teams up several times. Petro’s division from both job and wife makes things both easy and difficult. Both of Helena’s brothers find themselves joining in the hunt, Frontinius, the proconsul (a historical figure) is quite useful and competent (to their surprise). And Anacrites, having been nursed back to health by Falco’s mother, keeps wanting to ingratiate himself. If occasionally the tone shifts a bit frantically from light-hearted banter to rape, murder and dismemberment, that’s something that the genre has to cope with, and fairly true to writing of the period.

Read This: Historical crime novel looking into the logistics of Ancient Rome
Don’t Read This: If you want to know about aqueducts you’ll read a textbook and leave out the murders