Scandal Takes a Holiday
Scandal Takes a Holiday is a crime novel by Lindsey Davis.
Plot introduction
Set in Ostia Antica during AD 76, Scandal Takes a Holiday stars Marcus Didius Falco, Informer and Imperial Agent. It is the sixteenth in her Falco series.
Explanation of the novel's title
The title is reference to the 'holiday' taken by Infamia, gossip columnist of the Daily Gazette.
Plot summary
Marcus Didius Falco and Helena Justina travel to Ostia Antica, ostensibly on holiday. However, Falco is forced to confess to Petronius - present there on secondment - that he is in fact investigating the disappearance of Infamia, the pen name of the scribe who writes the gossip column for the Daily Gazette. He is at first believed to be merely a drunken truant, however investigations uncover some murky secrets. Piracy and other criminal traditions, long believed stamped out, are apparently alive and well in the region.
Characters in Scandal Takes a Holiday
Family and associates
- A. Camillus Aelianus - Older brother of Helena
- Albia - British girl adopted by Helena
- Decimus Camillus Verus - Father of Helena
- Fulvius - The "black sheep" of the Falco family
- Gaius Baebius - Husband of Junia
- Geminus - Father of Falco, Auctioneer
- Helena Justina - Wife of Falco, and daughter of the Senator Decimus Camillus Verus
- Julia Junilla and Sosia Favonia - Daughters of Falco and Helena
- Julia Justa - Mother of Helena
- Junia - Falco's sister
- Junilla Tacita - Mother of Falco
- Maia Favonia - Falco's widowed sister
- Marcus Didius Falco - Informer and Imperial Agent
- Q. Camillus Justinus - Younger brother of Helena
Staff of the Daily Gazette
- Diocles - Correspondent
- Holconius - Political reporter
- Mutatus - Sports commentator
- Vestina
Vigiles
- Brunnus - Leader of the VI Cohort's Ostia detachment
- Fusculus - Member of the IV Cohort
- Lucius Petronius Longus - Friend of Falco and Vigiles Officer
- Marcus Rubella - Tribune of the IV Cohort
- Passus - Member of the IV Cohort
- Rusticus - Recruiting officer
- Virtus - Slave
Others in Ostia
- Aline - Ship's owner
- Antemon - Sea captain
- Banno Ship's owner
- Caninus - Naval attaché
- Cotys - Illyrian
- Cratidas - Cilician
- Damagoras - Cilician
- Lygon - Cilician
- Posidonius - Importer
- Privatus - President of the Builders Guild
- Pullia - Cilician
- Rhodope - Daughter of Posidonius
- Theopompus - Illyrian
- Zeno - Cilician
Major themes
- Investigation into the disappearance of a gossip columnist.
- Investigation into possible piracy around Ostia.
Allusions/references to actual history, geography and current science
Release details
- 2003, UK, Century Hardback ISBN 0-7126-2587-9
- 2004, UK, Arrow, Paperback ISBN 780099 445289
- UK Audio BBC AudioBooks read by Jamie Glover Cassettes ISBN 1405600624 CDs 1405671718
- 2004, US, Mysterious Press, Hardback ISBN 0-89296-812-5
- 2006, US, St Martins Press, Paperback ISBN 0-312-94040-8
Sources, references, external links, quotations
Author's Official Website