In ancient Rome, as in the modern world, weddings and murder aren't supposed to go together. But for Flavia Albia, a private informer (detective) who learned her craft from her father, Marcus Didius Falco, picking up a new case six days before her bridal ceremony is a relief. Lindsey Davis (Deadly Election) ably mixes marriage and mayhem in her fourth Flavia Albia novel, The Graveyard of the Hesperides.
Adopted as a teenager by Falco (the protagonist of Davis's previous long-running mystery series), Albia is a sharp-tongued widow who relished her independence, until she fell in love with Tiberius Manlius Faustus, an upstanding if slightly dull plebeian aedile (magistrate). As Graveyard begins, Faustus is juggling his crabby relatives, his anxious bride and his new contracting business, which includes the renovation of a down-at-heel bar called the Garden of the Hesperides. When the remains of six bodies are discovered in the bar's courtyard, Faustus and Albia investigate, questioning the bar's landlord, waiters, grain suppliers and a seedy assortment of local residents. The bones have lain undisturbed for more than a decade, but as Albia soon discovers, someone doesn't want her digging up old secrets.
Davis's deep knowledge of Roman life and culture creates a believable setting, although the details occasionally overwhelm the plot. Albia is an engaging narrator, though not an infallible detective, and her zany relatives (especially her wedding-crazed younger sisters) provide an entertaining counterbalance to the investigation. Davis fans as well as new readers will enjoy this twisty, dryly humorous mystery. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams