DESPERATE UNDERTAKING

The thespians of ancient Rome are terrorized by a serial killer with a flair for the theatrical.

The piquant 10th case for Flavia Alba begins with a brutal bang, as the intrepid sleuth cradles Phrygia, a dying woman who's been mauled by Buculus the bull at the Theatre of Balbus; when asked who’d set her up, the woman declares that she was killed by “the undertaker.” The story then flashes back to another murder at the theater, that of Chremes, an actor/manager who was hung naked and left to die on a cross earlier that same day. Though Flavia’s husband, Tiberius, is a stalwart sidekick, she craves the insights of her father, Marcus Didius Falco, the veteran investigator who anchored Davis’ other long-running series, who’s fled the city for some R&R with wife Helena after the boisterous festivities of the Saturnalia. Investigating Chremes' death, Flavia questions all the theater folk, including Chremes’ wife, Phrygia, whose bizarre death at the horns of Buculus the bull will soon occur. The circle of colorful suspects is large, but many have alibis, and none seems to have a connection to an undertaker. The complexity of the crimes leads Flavia to hypothesize multiple killers with serious grudges. The anxieties an impending production of Oedipus Rex triggers among the company are amplified by the death of a leading actor and his driver. Flavia’s first-person narration is refreshingly wry and pointed. Davis helpfully provides armchair sleuths with a complete cast of characters and detailed maps.

A brisk and tidy mystery studded with humor and interesting historic detail.