Two things in life for which I've never had much patience: Mysteries and radio plays. As a cynic with a short attention span, the mysteries were always either too easily solved or too dull to sit through. And radio plays - especially from the CBC, with their (clogged) Kitchen Sink Drama and Flopsweaty Comedy quotas to fill - also tended to the "too dull to sit through" end of the spectrum.
Imagine my surprise, then, to find these BBC recordings of Lindsey Davis' fabulous Falco series.
I'd heard of the novels first when my high school Latin teacher gave them away as year-end prizes to the top student in each class. As this didn't include me, I put them out of my mind, and tuned out the constant raves from those gloat-prone top-student friends of mine. I finally decided to bite when my sister added her voice to the rave choir (I'd lent her my untouched thrift-store copy) and added it to my Audible playlist.
It was an enjoyable listen. Davis' accomplishment with the series - it's up to 18 books now - is not the mystery writing (which can be hard to follow when the suspects are all triple-named Whoopdedus Giddyus Maximus or somesuch) nor the attention to historical detail (the books sometimes bog down in descriptions of ancient mining practices, etc.) but the decision to drop a classic 40's gumshoe into the noirish environment of early Imperial Rome; It's testament to the chracterization that, in my mind's eye, Falco wears both a toga and a fedora. He's also outfitted with terrific supporting characters: His drinking buddy, Petronius; his rolling-pin wielding mother and her gaggle of daughters and grandkids; and the Princess Leia-like lady love, Helena Justina, a senator's daughter who can outdo Falco in the kicking ass and taking names department.
The BBC radio plays distill the books to their essence and leave some excellent voice actors to give even more life to already-lively characters. In particular, Anton Lesser absolutely nails Falco. The only complaint I have is that they're only up to Book 4. Given that I knocked the first three off in one day, the wait for the next dramatization seems as eternal as their setting.
The Silver Pigs - Buy on CD
Shadows in Bronze - Buy on CD
Venus in Copper - Buy on CD
The Iron Hand of Mars - Buy on CD
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