Rome, the very end of December. The Field of Mars is packed with monuments, none more beautiful than Domitian's new Odeon and Stadium. But the area has been overtaken by ugly events: elaborately staged murders. Someone bears a spectacular grudge against the theatrical community, and intends to get revenge in the most spectacular way possible. The killer's method is to re-enact bloody scenes from the gruesome side of popular theatre, where characters in plays really die on stage.A figure from the past wants Flavia Albia's father to investigate, but Falco is out of Rome for the holidays. Albia seizes the commission. And begins to regret doing so almost immediately. 'The undertaker did it!' the first victim croaks before expiring. This seems to make no sense, because surely people are already dead when they go to their funeral?Though there is a serial killer at large, the authorities would prefer a cover-up but Albia is driven to discover what is going on. How much blood must be shed before the mania ends? And could her own family be on the list for a frightful stage death?
Rome, the very end of December. The Field of Mars is packed with monuments, none more beautiful than Domitian's new Odeon and Stadium. But the area has been overtaken by ugly events: elaborately staged murders. Someone bears a spectacular grudge against the theatrical community, and intends to get revenge in the most spectacular way possible. The killer's method is to re-enact bloody scenes from the gruesome side of popular theatre, where characters in plays really die on stage.
Con motivo de la publicación del número XX de la serie. Linsey Davis ofrece a sus seguidores el libro que nos descubre todos los misterios y secretos que a todos nos gustaría saber de nuestro entrañable detective romano. Esta guia incluye planos de la Roma imperial, imagenes de la reconstruccion digita de la Roma de la epoca, fotos de los viajes de Lindsey Davis sobre sus investigaciones historicas, esquemas de algunas maquinas que aparecen en las novelas, etc.Ademas, la autora narra y analiza su trayectoria como escritora y desvela sus metodos de trabajo antes y durante la escritura de las novelas.Gore Vidal (Nueva York, 1925) es sin duda uno de los escritores mas importantes de la segunda mitad del siglo xx. Polemico periodista, guionista cinematografico de raro talento, novelista de obras tan inclasificables como Williwaw o La Institucion Smithsoniana y ensayista mordazcomo pone de manifiesto en Patria e Imperio, por ejemplo, quiza su faceta mas conocida sea la de autor de impresionantes frescos historicos, entre los que destacan Juliano el Apostata, reacion, En busca del rey, Lincoln, Imperio, Hollywood o Washington D.C., que le han convertido en un punto de referencia obligado para cualquier aficionado a la novela historica.