By Paul Carrier
In this ninth Marcus Didius Falco mystery, our intrepid detective and
his not-quite-official wife Helena Justina return to Rome in 73 A.D.
with their newborn daughter, following a trip to Spain to investigate
dastardly deeds on behalf of the Emperor Vespasian.
But a quiet life of domestic tranquility is not in the cards for the freshly minted parents and their baby. Which is just as well, because Falco needs a paying job and the reader needs an enticing tale.
Although the title of Three Hands in the Fountain may well allude to the 1954 film Three Coins in the Fountain and its signature tune, it is body parts - not currency - that are turning up in the aqueducts and reservoirs of Ancient Rome.
Falco stumbles upon the problem when he and his best friend, Petronius Longus, discover that a city fountain dried up because a severed hand was blocking an aqueduct. Over time, two more hands are discovered in the city's water supply, and Falco's brother-in-law, a boatman on the Tiber River, reveals that human torsos periodically turn up in the river, sans extremities.
Suspended from his job with the vigiles (Rome's firefighting/police squad) and tossed out by his wife because he's having an affair with a gangster's daughter, Petronius partners up with Falco. They hope to nab the murderer who's not only dismembering Roman women but polluting the city's waterworks as well.
No matter how dire the circumstances, Falco's legendary sarcasm is on constant display here. The only thing that's more entertaining than his wisecracking chatter is his internal monologue, as he reflects with cynical good humor on the vagaries of his life and the tumultuous workings of the empire.
"The good thing about having a work partner was that I could leave him to fret all night over any new evidence," Falco muses after he and Petronius join forces. "As senior executive I could forget it then stroll in tomorrow, refreshed and full of unworkable ideas, to ask in an annoying tone what solutions my minion had come up with. Some of us are born to be managers."
No one has hired the duo to investigate the murders, but all that changes when word of the water system's contamination leaks out. That triggers a riot and prompts the emperor to send an emissary to Falco with a job offer.
The first two hands provide no clues, but the third bears a wedding ring inscribed with the names Asinia and Caius. Can Falco, Petro and S. Julius Frontinus (a real person known to history as an expert on Roman aqueducts) find a man named Caius who was married to a recently disappeared wife named Asinia? And will that bring them any closer to identifying and apprehending the killer?
When Falco, Petronius and the vigiles stake out the area surrounding the Circus Maximus in search of the villain, an already dicey situation grows worse.
Not only have Falco's wife and his sister threatened to pose as decoys to lure the murderer into a trap, much to Falco's dismay, but Claudia Rufina, who is set to marry one of Helena Justina's brothers, is seen leaving the Circus Maximus alone and getting into a man's carriage. She does not return home, convincing investigators that she is - or will become - the killer's next victim.
Davis brings her intimate knowledge of Roman life to bear in Three Hands in the Fountain, providing context for Falco's antics and escapades. Whether the topic is the layout of Rome's streets, the attractions (and shortcomings) of the nearby countryside or the countless festivals and games that filled the Roman calendar, Davis creates the distinct impression that she may be more at home in Ancient Rome than in our own time. If so, the reader is the beneficiary.
But a quiet life of domestic tranquility is not in the cards for the freshly minted parents and their baby. Which is just as well, because Falco needs a paying job and the reader needs an enticing tale.
Although the title of Three Hands in the Fountain may well allude to the 1954 film Three Coins in the Fountain and its signature tune, it is body parts - not currency - that are turning up in the aqueducts and reservoirs of Ancient Rome.
Falco stumbles upon the problem when he and his best friend, Petronius Longus, discover that a city fountain dried up because a severed hand was blocking an aqueduct. Over time, two more hands are discovered in the city's water supply, and Falco's brother-in-law, a boatman on the Tiber River, reveals that human torsos periodically turn up in the river, sans extremities.
Suspended from his job with the vigiles (Rome's firefighting/police squad) and tossed out by his wife because he's having an affair with a gangster's daughter, Petronius partners up with Falco. They hope to nab the murderer who's not only dismembering Roman women but polluting the city's waterworks as well.
No matter how dire the circumstances, Falco's legendary sarcasm is on constant display here. The only thing that's more entertaining than his wisecracking chatter is his internal monologue, as he reflects with cynical good humor on the vagaries of his life and the tumultuous workings of the empire.
"The good thing about having a work partner was that I could leave him to fret all night over any new evidence," Falco muses after he and Petronius join forces. "As senior executive I could forget it then stroll in tomorrow, refreshed and full of unworkable ideas, to ask in an annoying tone what solutions my minion had come up with. Some of us are born to be managers."
No one has hired the duo to investigate the murders, but all that changes when word of the water system's contamination leaks out. That triggers a riot and prompts the emperor to send an emissary to Falco with a job offer.
The first two hands provide no clues, but the third bears a wedding ring inscribed with the names Asinia and Caius. Can Falco, Petro and S. Julius Frontinus (a real person known to history as an expert on Roman aqueducts) find a man named Caius who was married to a recently disappeared wife named Asinia? And will that bring them any closer to identifying and apprehending the killer?
When Falco, Petronius and the vigiles stake out the area surrounding the Circus Maximus in search of the villain, an already dicey situation grows worse.
Not only have Falco's wife and his sister threatened to pose as decoys to lure the murderer into a trap, much to Falco's dismay, but Claudia Rufina, who is set to marry one of Helena Justina's brothers, is seen leaving the Circus Maximus alone and getting into a man's carriage. She does not return home, convincing investigators that she is - or will become - the killer's next victim.
Davis brings her intimate knowledge of Roman life to bear in Three Hands in the Fountain, providing context for Falco's antics and escapades. Whether the topic is the layout of Rome's streets, the attractions (and shortcomings) of the nearby countryside or the countless festivals and games that filled the Roman calendar, Davis creates the distinct impression that she may be more at home in Ancient Rome than in our own time. If so, the reader is the beneficiary.
