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Revision as of 13:19, 8 May 2009

A Body in the Bath House
AuthorLindsey Davis
LanguageEnglish
SeriesMarcus Didius Falco
GenreCrime
PublisherArrow Books, Mysterious Press
Publication date2001
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Media typePrint (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages352 pp (Hardback edition)
ISBN0712678549
Preceded byOde to a Banker 
Followed byThe Jupiter Myth 

A Body in the Bath House is a crime novel by Lindsey Davis.

Plot introduction

Set in Rome and Britannia in AD 75, A Body in the Bath House stars Marcus Didius Falco, Informer and Imperial Agent. It is the thirteenth in her Falco series.

Explanation of the novel's title

The title is a reference to the discovery of a corpse hidden beneath the floor of a bath house and a muder which takes place in another.

Plot summary

When Marcus Didius Falco discovers a corpse hidden under the floor of his new bath house he starts to track down the men responsible - Glaucus and Cotta. He also receives a commission from the Emperor Vespasian. A building project for the British Chieftain Togidubnus is running late and over-budget. Suspecting that the men he seeks have fled to Britain Falco accepts the mission and travels there with his wife, two baby daughters, their nurse and his two brothers-in-law Aelianus and Justinus.

Falco arrives at Fishbourne and starts by investigating corrupt practices. However events quickly take a turn for the worse when the Chief Architect is found murdered in the bath-house of the British King. Falco takes over the project and investigates the killings.

Characters in "A Body in the Bath House"

In Rome

  • A. Camillus Aelianus - Older brother of Helena
  • Anacrites - Chief Spy
  • Camilla Hyspale - Nursemaid to Julia and Favonia
  • Geminus - Father of Falco, Auctioneer
  • Glaucus and Cotta - Bath House Contractors
  • Favonia - Daughter of Falco and Helena
  • Helena Justina - Wife of Falco, and daughter of the Senator Decimus Camillus Verus
  • Julia - Daughter of Falco and Helena
  • Lucius Petronius Longus - Friend of Falco and Vigiles Officer
  • Maia Favonia - Falco's widowed sister
  • Marcus Didius Falco - Informer and Imperial Agent.
  • Perella - Dancer and Spy
  • Q. Camillus Justinus - Younger brother of Helena
  • Vespasian - Emperor of Rome

In Britain

  • Alexas - Doctor
  • Blandus - Painter
  • Cyprianus - Clerk of Works
  • Gaius - Clerk
  • Lupus - Overseas labour force supervisor
  • Magnus - Surveyor
  • Mandumerus - Local labour force supervisor
  • Marcellinus - Retired Architect
  • Milchato - Marble Mason
  • Philocles - Mosaicist
  • Plancus - Assistant Architect
  • Pomponius - Project Manager
  • Rectus - Draining Engineer
  • Sextius - Mechanical statue-seller
  • Strephon - Assistant Architect
  • T. Claudius Togidunus - Great King of the Britons
  • Timagenes - Gardener
  • Verovolcus - Briton working for Togidubnus
  • Virginia - Barmaid

Major themes

  • Investigation into corruption at the building of a palace of an influential Roman ally.
  • The obsessive pursuit of Maia by Anacrites.

Allusions/references to actual history, geography and current science

Release details

  • 2001, UK, Century Hardback ISBN 0712 68039 X
  • 2002, UK, Arrow, Paperback ISBN 0099298309
  • UK, Chivers/BBC AudioBooks, read by Christian Rodska, Cassettes ISBN 07540 97692 CD audios ISBN 14056 70487
  • UK, Isis, Large Print ISBN 0-7531-6612-7
  • 2002, US, Mysterious Press, Hardback ISBN 0892967714
  • US, Mysterious Press, Paperback ISBN 0-446-69170-4

Sources, references, external links, quotations

Author's Official Website

Marcus Didius Falco and Flavia Albia series by Lindsey Davis
Falco series
Albia series
Related works
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