See Delphi and Die by Lindsey Davis

Audiobook Review of the Seventeenth Marcus Didius Falco Adventure

May 20, 2009

In the See Delphi and Die audiobook, Lindsey Davis and narrator Christian Rodska, take listeners on a journey to ancient Greece as Falco investigates two murders.

See Delphi and Die by Lindsey Davis is the seventeenth book in the Marcus Didius Falco Mysteries series. In See Dephi and Die, audiobook listeners follow the adventures of first century Roman detective,Marcus Didius Falco. With his wife, Helena and other familiar characters from earlier books, Falco heads to Greece to investigate the mysterious deaths of two young women.

Although their deaths were three years apart, both women had been customers of Seven Sights travels, a travel firm that specializes in tours for wealthy Roman travelers. The seedy firm and current group of travel weary tourists provides plenty to keep Falco's investigations busy. The plot twists and turns bring the listeners to an exciting, if abrupt end which paves the way for Saturnalia, the next novel in the series.

Despite See Delphi and Die being the seventeenth in the series, Lindsey Davies keeps the plot fresh and enjoyable. The majority of the action takes place in Greece which provides a magnificent backdrop. Davies provides listeners with enough detail to paint an image of Greece in the first century while not overloading listeners with dry fact.

See Delphi and Die Narration

See Delphi and Die is narrated by Christian Rodska, who has also narrated other books in the audiobook series. Christian Rodska is a skilled narrator who brings the whole cast of characters alive. The fact that Christian Rodska has narrated other books in the Falco series is obvious from his narration and he seems very comfortable in the role. His technique of giving accents to the different characters helps listeners to differentiate between the characters. This is useful as many of the ancient Roman and Greek names are unfamiliar to modern listeners, which can add an element of confusion.

The Marcus Didius Falco Mysteries series are historical novels. This does not, however, mean that they are stuffy or boring. Lyndsey Davies researches her books well, yet writes with an amusing and satirical style that makes them easy to read or listen to. In See Delphi and Die there are plenty of satirical one-liners and re-joiners which Christian Rodska delivers perfectly, endearing the characters further to listeners.

Ancient History

Many Falco fans comment that they learn more about ancient history from the pages of books by Lindsey Davis than they did from history lessons at school. This is testament to the combination of excellent writing and thorough research (although readers should note that Lindsey Davis does deliberately include an error or two to make the plots more interesting).

Further Information

See Delphi and Die is published by Random House, the audiobook is published by BBC Audiobooks (ISBN: 978-0792742593). For more information about Lindsey Davis, plus lots of additional reading such as Falco's biography see the Lindsey Davis website (where visitors can also sign up for a newsletter).

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The copyright of the article See Delphi and Die by Lindsey Davis in Fiction Audiobooks is owned by Kate Pullen. Permission to republish See Delphi and Die by Lindsey Davis in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.