Lindsey Davis

Author

Lindsey Davis is a British historical crime fiction author whose Marcus Didius Falco series and Flavia Albia series, set in ancient Rome, have delighted readers for over three decades with their blend of detective fiction, historical detail, dry wit, and richly imagined Roman life. Born in Birmingham in 1949, Davis studied English at... the University of Oxford and worked as a civil servant before becoming a full-time writer. Her years of meticulous research into Roman history, culture, and daily life give her novels an authenticity that few other historical fiction writers can match. The Silver Pigs (1989) introduced Marcus Didius Falco, a private informer (detective) in first-century Rome during the reign of the Emperor Vespasian. Falco is witty, irreverent, romantically entangled with the patrician Helena Justina, and perpetually short of money — a Roman Philip Marlowe navigating the politics, corruption, and daily chaos of the ancient world. The series ran to twenty novels, including The Accusers, Shadows in Bronze, Venus in Copper, and many more. The Flavia Albia series, beginning with The Ides of April (2013), follows Falco's adopted daughter as she takes up the family business of investigation in a later period of Roman history. Davis has won the CWA Ellis Peters Historical Dagger and has been honoured with the CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger for lifetime achievement — one of the most prestigious awards in crime fiction. Her writing is distinguished by its wit, its scholarship worn lightly, and its ability to make ancient Rome feel vivid, chaotic, and recognisably human. The audiobook editions of Davis's novels are a treat, with narrators capturing the wit and atmosphere of her Roman world. Her books and audiobooks are essential for anyone who loves historical fiction, detective stories, and the pleasure of spending time in a brilliantly imagined past. Read more Show less