Summary and Reviews of The Accusers by Lindsey Davis

Book Summary

Marcus Didius Falco ('Sam Spade in a ratty toga') should have smelled a rat when employed to investigate the death of a rich Roman senator.  Now Falco stands before judge and jury to argue the case but the wheels of justice grind exceedingly fine and the machinations of the powerful are dangerous.

"Sam Spade in a ratty toga," proclaims the Cleveland Plain Dealer of Roman sleuth Marcus Didius Falco, the hero of Lindsey Davis's bestselling series who has strode through the Eternal City like a colossus of a P.I. In this riveting new adventure, however, Falco may make a fatal misstep as he enters the halls of Roman law and finds that juris prudentia is anything but prudent. It's rife with risk and deadly betrayals...

THE ACCUSERS

Justice may be blind. Yet in the case of a rich Roman senator named Rubirius Metellus who was convicted of corruption and then committed suicide, Marcus Didius Falco should have smelled a rat…and looked the other way.

The affair begins when a famous prosecutor asks Falco to look into Metellus's death. Newly returned from far-flung Londinium, Falco needs the business and doesn't question why he's been given this case. Perhaps after his lengthy hiatus in the provinces, he's forgotten how to swim with the sharks...

In the predatory world of Roman law, accusers collect a fee from successful prosecutions. It is a cutthroat business. Sometimes innocent men are convicted and their wealth confiscated. But Falco believes citizen Metellus was truly guilty and should have paid up. Instead the culprit took poison-and relieved his surviving family of paying his debt.

Then as Falco starts to investigate, he begins to suspect that Metellus may have had some help with his last meal. And if he actually was murdered, Falco must find out cui bono? Who benefits? Now, in a courtroom drama filled with chilling surprises, Falco stands before judge and jury to argue the case. For while the wheels of justice grind exceedingly fine, the machinations of the powerful are dangerous. And Falco may have played right into their hands...