Lindsey Davis: Desperate Undertaking (UK 2022)

From the Publisher:
Rome under the Emperor Domitian. The Field of Mars is packed with monuments, none more beautiful than the new Odeon and Stadium. But the area is the scene of ugly events: elaborately staged murders reenacting famous dramatic deaths and perpetrated against the theatrical community.

Though there is a serial killer at large, the authorities would prefer a cover-up but Flavia Albia is driven to discover what is going on. How much blood must be shed before the mania ends? And could her own familiy be on the list for a frightfull stage death?

Lindsey Davis: Desperate Undertaking. A Flavia Albia Novel. Hodder, ISBN: 9781529354720 (October, 2022), 394 p., £9.99.

Lindsey Davis: Desperate Undertaking (USA 2022)

From the Publisher:
In Lindsey Davis's next book in the beloved Flavia Albia Series, Desperate Undertaking, a mad killer (or killers!) is strewing bodies around in the most gruesome of manners and, true to form, it is up to Flavia Albia to determine what is really going on and stop this bacchanal of death.

In the first century, under Domitian's reign, strange and brutal goings on are nothing new in Rome. Flavia Albia, daughter of Marcus Didius Falco, has taken over her father's business as a private informer but she tries to shy away from the brutal, the complicated, and the political - because nothing good comes of any of them. Unfortunately, she's not very good at turning them down.

This time a commission shows up on her doorstep - someone is staging brutal murders in some of the most beautiful buildings in Rome, each staging different. So far, the only clue was the phrase that one survivor managed to croak, "The undertaker did it..." With little to go on and bodies starting to pile up, Albia has to unravel the strangest mystery of her career in short order if she's to stop this dismaying orgy of murder.

Lindsey Davis: Desperate Undertaking. A Flavia Albia Novel. Minotaur Books, ISBN: 9781250799883 (July, 2022), 352 p., $27.99, eBook $12.99.

Lindsey Davis: Desperate Undertaking (UK 2022)

From the Publisher:
Rome, the very end of December. The Field of Mars is packed with monuments, none more beautiful than Domitian's new Odeon and Stadium. But the area has been overtaken by ugly events: elaborately staged murders. Someone bears a spectacular grudge against the theatrical community, and intends to get revenge in the most spectacular way possible. The killer's method is to re-enact bloody scenes from the gruesome side of popular theatre, where characters in plays really die on stage.

A figure from the past wants Flavia Albia's father to investigate, but Falco is out of Rome for the holidays. Albia seizes the commission. And begins to regret doing so almost immediately. 'The undertaker did it!' the first victim croaks before expiring. This seems to make no sense, because surely people are already dead when they go to their funeral?

Though there is a serial killer at large, the authorities would prefer a cover-up but Albia is driven to discover what is going on. How much blood must be shed before the mania ends? And could her own family be on the list for a frightful stage death?

Lindsey Davis: Desperate Undertaking. A Flavia Albia Novel. Hodder & Stoughton, ISBN: 9781529354683 (April, 2022), 402 p., £20.00, eBook £12.99.