INTERNATIONAL MYSTERY
Henning Mankell, although he did not invent “world noir,” demolished the walls between English-language mystery/detective fiction and the rest of the world using the same structure to investigate just about anything dealing with the home society, truth, justice, betrayal — all the great fictional territory. Here we offer a canvas of what we carry from international writers who write mysteries, noir, cozies, historical detectives, and other gems that fit in the wide and glorious category of Mystery. Travel the world!
[Note: Georges Simenon’s works, including all the Maigret mysteries, have moved to a separate page dedicated to their author. Follow the trail!]
A Comedy of Terrors: A Flavia Alba Novel
A Comedy of Terrors: A Flavia Alba Novel
"Melds scrupulous research, arch banter, caustic characters, and strong plotting...Flavia Albia is delightful, trickster-y company to spend time with." -- New York Times Book Review
In Rome, 89 A.D., poisonings, murders, and a bloody gang war of retribution breaks out during the festival of Saturnalia, and when her husband, Tiberius, becomes a target, it's time for Flavia Albia to take matters into her own hands -- in Lindsey Davis’s next historical mystery, A Comedy of Terrors.
Flavia Albia, daughter and successor of private informer Marcus Didius Falco is twiddling her thumbs with no clients during the December festival of Saturnalia. But that doesn't mean all is quiet. Her husband Tiberius and the Fourth Cohort are battling organized crime interests that are going to war over the festival nuts. A series of accidental poisonings, then bloody murders of rival nut-sellers, and finally a gruesome warning to Tiberius from the hidden criminal powers to back off.
Albia has had just about enough and combines forces with Tiberius to uncover the hidden criminal gangs trying to worm their way into the establishment at a banquet of the emperor Domitian.