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Desperate Undertaking
2022 historical crime novel by Lindsey Davis From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Desperate Undertaking is a historical crime novel by British writer Lindsey Davis, the tenth in her Flavia Albia series.[1] It was published in the UK on 7 April 2022 by Hodder & Stoughton (ISBN 9781529354713)[2] and in the United States on 27 July 2022 by Minotaur Books (ISBN 9781250799883).[3]
The tale is set in Rome in late December 89 AD, set in and around the Field of Mars, and involving murders among the theatrical community.[2][4] It is divided into parts, of varying lengths, with titles "Laureolus", "Pasiphae", "Oedipus Rex", "Medea", "Selurus the bandit king of Sicily", "Orpheus or possibly Daedalus", "Aeschylus", "Jason" and "The Girl from Londinium".[5]
The cover of the first UK hardback edition shows a damaged bas-relief carving of a seated man contemplating a theatrical mask which he holds in his outstretched hand.[2] The image is of part of "Relief of a seated poet (Menander) with masks of New Comedy, 1st century B.C.–early 1st century A.D.", held by the Princeton University Art Museum.[6] The American cover shows a girl in a white and purple tunic looking towards a Roman theatre while clutching a large dagger.[3]
In a starred review, Publishers Weekly wrote that the novel "reinforces Davis’s place at the top of the Ancient Roman historical subgenre".[7] Kirkus Reviews and the Historical Novel Society also gave favourable reviews.[8][9]
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