This book is made up of four novellas featuring characters from her series ( three of which have been published before ) - there is no need to read the previous books as this set can be read as standalones
Each book explores the Author's world in Ancient Rome and beyond - written with humour the stories are entertaining , filled with intrigue and drawing the reader into a different world told from various perspectives

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own

Lindsay Davis never disappoints and her stories and characters are always well developed. These stories are entertaining and compelling.
Thoroughly enjoyed them
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

A wonderful compilation of Falco/Albia stories. Intrigue, humour, relationships and murder all set in Ancient Rome. Fabulous!

I would like to thank Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for an advance copy of Voices of Rome, a collection of 4 stories told by various peripheral characters in Falco’s world of the 1st century Roman Empire.

It should be noted that all 4 stories have been published previously, 3 as Kindle Singles (The Spook Who Spoke Again, Vesuvius by Night and Invitation to Die) while the fourth, The Bride from Bithynia was first published in 1991 in a magazine. The author provides a very comprehensive foreword explaining how she came to write them and her thinking behind them, so I won’t do more than generalise about the collection. I found it very interesting and a great insight into her methodology.

The novellas, as she prefers to call them, are all told by different characters and, apart from The Spook Who Spoke Again, take a look at seminal events from the point of view of ordinary, relatively powerless citizens. There is little by way of crime, my main reading matter, but they do bring the ancient world alive through humour and period detail. The strength, however, is in the characterisation where the men tend to be rather feckless, while the women are quite strong. Obviously this is a bit of a generalisation with exceptions on both sides, but it doesn’t stop the characters coming to life on the page and exposes their strengths and weaknesses when confronted with peril.

It seems to me that The Spook Who Spoke Again is the outlier in this collection. It is all about Postumus, Falco’s rather strange adopted son, and his adventures at the circus. He is not a likeable child and his adventure is more fun than character forming. I thought it was a bit contrived, but I loved the ending.

Voices of Rome is a good read that I can recommend.