As helpful as a goat with three livers
SCANDEL TAKES A HOLIDAY, by Lindsey Davis was another Marcus Didius Falco mystery novel set in 76 A.D. Our hero and first person narrator is a private informer, former Army scout (who developed an enhance nervousness about having incompetennt supervisors during the Boadica revolt) solving discret cases, and getting far more tangled in imperial politics than he wants.
In this one the gossip columnist scribe for the Daily Gazette goes missing and he goes investigating. To one particularly unreliable and unhelpful witness he grumbles, "Ah, you're as helpful as a goat with three livers to a novice augery-taker."
The translation was "It has endless possibilities -- but no obvious story to tell."
Corrupt building contractors with a private army, "retired" pirates, bloody mystery cults, kidnapping, fire department intra-departmental rivalries, domestic tension, and eccentric relatives.
Most hard-boiled detectives don't have to cope with their mother barging in to the office, complaining about their housekeeping and argueing with clients. While Ma is out of this one, Pa, a long lost uncle, and others are abounding.
Each of the many books can be read independently, though it does take an edge off suspense in early books if you find out in later books how many characters die or are married with kids later on.
Recommended, though with the caution that these frequently have been books good enough to make me miss my bus stop, or stay up far too late on a weeknight.
Author's website:
http://www.lindseydavis.co.uk/
In this one the gossip columnist scribe for the Daily Gazette goes missing and he goes investigating. To one particularly unreliable and unhelpful witness he grumbles, "Ah, you're as helpful as a goat with three livers to a novice augery-taker."
The translation was "It has endless possibilities -- but no obvious story to tell."
Corrupt building contractors with a private army, "retired" pirates, bloody mystery cults, kidnapping, fire department intra-departmental rivalries, domestic tension, and eccentric relatives.
Most hard-boiled detectives don't have to cope with their mother barging in to the office, complaining about their housekeeping and argueing with clients. While Ma is out of this one, Pa, a long lost uncle, and others are abounding.
Each of the many books can be read independently, though it does take an edge off suspense in early books if you find out in later books how many characters die or are married with kids later on.
Recommended, though with the caution that these frequently have been books good enough to make me miss my bus stop, or stay up far too late on a weeknight.
Author's website:
http://www.lindseydavis.co.uk/