Lindsey Davis: Scandal Takes A Holiday (UK 2013)

From the Publisher:
ALL THE NEWS THAT'S FIT TO DIE FOR...
In the wealthy town of Ostia, our hero Falco appears to be enjoying a relaxing holiday. But when his girlfriend, Helena, arrives carrying a batch of old copies of the Daily Gazette - with the intention of catching up on the latest scandal - Falco is forced to admit to Petronius his real reasons for being there...

'Infamia', the pen name of the scribe who writes the gossip column for the Daily Gazette, has gone missing. His fellow scribes have employed Falco to find him and bring him back from his lazy, drunken truancy. However, Falco suspects that there is more to his absence than there might first appear...

Lindsey Davis: Scandal Takes A Holiday. A Marcus Didius Falco Novel. Arrow, ISBN: 9780099515234 (April, 2013), 368 p., £8.99.

Lindsey Davis: Scandal Takes A Holiday (USA 2006)

From the Publisher:
Treachery, betrayal and murder... It's just another ordinary day in ancient Rome.
THE HANDWRITING ON THE WALL MAY PROVE DEADLY...
As an "informer" -- a private detective -- Marcus Didius Falco has an insider's knowledge of the Empire's less than glorious side. He's also been in the middle of its most dangerous secrets more than once. So when he's hired to find notorious gossip "scribe" Infamia, Marcus figures the missing muckraker is either taking advantage of a vacation bribe from some wealthy wife -- or resting up from injuries inflicted by some senator's henchmen. But instead of earning an easy fee, Marcus soon finds himself at odds against a sinister ring of pirates preying on the wealthy; a ruthlessly-vulgar construction magnate...and several of his own less-than-reputable family members. And what he uncovers will lead him through the dark byways and underground of the Empire's busiest seaport...where a cold-blooded killer with nothing to lose waits to bury one cynical informer for good...

Lindsey Davis: Scandal Takes A Holiday. A Marcus Didius Falco Mystery. St. Martin's Paperbacks, ISBN: 0312940408 (June, 2006), 384 p., $6.99.

Lindsey Davis: Scandal Takes A Holiday (UK 2005)

From the Publisher:
In the wealthy town of Ostia, our hero Falco appears to be enjoying a relaxing holiday. But when his girlfriend, Helena, arrives carrying a batch of old copies of the Daily Gazette - with the intention of catching up on the latest scandal - Falco is forced to admit to Petronius his real reasons for being there...

'Infamia', the pen name of the scribe who writes the gossip column for the Daily Gazette, has gone missing. His fellow scribes have employed Falco to find him and bring him back from his lazy, drunken truancy. However, Falco suspects that there is more to his absence than might first appear. Before long, Falco's enquiries lead him into the world of piracy and the discovery of criminal traditions long believed dead. Is this the right path towards finding 'Infamia'? Why would pirates have taken him? And if they have, will he be found alive?

Lindsey Davis: Scandal Takes A Holiday. Arrow, ISBN: 0099445271 (June, 2005), 344 p., £6.99.

Lindsey Davis: Scandal Takes A Holiday (USA 2004)

From the Publisher:
Set in ancient Rome, the mysteries of Lindsey Davis featuring sleuth Marcus Didius Falco are "one of the best historical series," says the Detroit Free Press, filled with "the wisecracking humor, scathing social commentary, and rollicking adventure that are Davis's trademarks." Now, in a new novel, the intrepid Falco lands a case in Rome's squalid port of Ostia and enters a most dark and dangerous place...

SCANDAL TAKES A HOLIDAY
Infamia - a pseudonym for the sleazy rascal who writes the gossip column for Rome's Daily Gazette-has vanished while claiming to be visiting an "aunt" in Ostia. With no juicy scandal to print, his employers want him found. It's a perfect job for private eye Marcus Didius Falco.

Falco's best friend, L. Petronius Longus, is already in Ostia on duty with the local vigiles and Falco expects to enjoy some good company and tolerable vino as well. Alas, not only is the wine wretched and the vigiles rowdy, but Petro-deep in amor with Falco's sister Maia-is discovering that the problem with love is the Falco family in-laws who come with it. On the bright side, Falco soon has a lead in Infamia's disappearance.

Following a trail that begins with a little boy whose mother "won't wake up" and a gardener about to be decapitated with some hedge sheers, Falco finds that his inquiries will put him on a perilous road. Even as his patrician wife and partner, Helena Justina, feels the icy hand of terror, Falco stumbles into something more deadly than a missing person's case. In fact, what lies beneath Infamia's disappearance is an underworld of cutthroat villains and chilling deeds. Now, with his wit and courage tested, Falco may be going to vitam impendere vero (stake one's life for the truth), for, like life, this case may end in the cold chambers of the grave...

Lindsey Davis: Scandal Takes A Holiday. A Marcus Didius Falco Mystery Novel. Mysterious Press, ISBN: 0892968125 (September, 2004), 332 p., $24.95.

Lindsey Davis: Scandal Takes A Holiday (UK 2004)

From the Publisher:
In the wealthy town of Ostia, our hero Falco appears to be enjoying a relaxing holiday. But when his girlfriend, Helena, arrives carrying a batch of old copies of the Daily Gazette - with the intention of catching up on the latest scandal - Falco is forced to admit to Petronius his real reasons for being there-'Infamia', the pen name of the scribe who writes the gossip column for the Daily Gazette, has gone missing. His fellow scribes have employed Falco to find him and bring him back from his lazy, drunken truancy. However, Falco suspects that there is more to his absence than might first appear. Before long, Falco's enquiries lead him into the world of piracy and the discovery of criminal traditions long believed dead. Is this the right path towards finding 'Infamia'? Why would pirates have taken him? And if they have, will he be found alive?

Lindsey Davis: Scandal Takes A Holiday. Century, ISBN: 0712625879 (June, 2004), 283 p., £16.99.