Lindsey Davis

Lindsey Davis (born 1949) is an English historical novelist, best known as the author of the Falco series of historical crime stories set in ancient Rome and its empire.

Biography

Davis was born in Birmingham and after taking a degree in English literature at Oxford University (Lady Margaret Hall), she became a civil servant. She left the civil service after 13 years, and when a romantic novel she had written was runner up for the 1985 Georgette Heyer Historical Novel Prize, she decided to become a writer, writing at first romantic serials for the UK women's magazine Woman's Realm.

The dedication of her 2009 work Rebels and Traitors is "For Richard / dearest and closest of friends / your favourite book / in memory", and the author's website tells that "I am still getting used to life without my dear Richard. For those of you who haven't seen this before, he died in October [2008]".^[1] The author says in her publisher's newsletter: "The greatest recommendation I can give is that Richard, its first reader, thought it wonderful. He devoured chunks, demanding ‘Bring more story!’ even when he was in hospital. One of the last things I was ever able to tell him was that Rebels and Traitors was to be published by Random House, so I would be working with dear friends for his favourite book."^[2]

Davis suffered from the eye condition keratoconus from childhood, and in adulthood had a corneal transplant: she says "A stranger's generosity freed me from years of pain and anxiety", and urges her readers to carry a donor card.^[3][4]

Writing

Davis's interest in history and archaeology led to her writing a historical novel about Vespasian and his lover Antonia Caenis (The Course of Honour), for which she could not find a publisher. She tried again, and her first novel featuring the Roman "detective", Marcus Didius Falco, The Silver Pigs, set in the same time period and published in 1989, was the start of her runaway success as a writer of historical whodunnits. A further nineteen Falco novels have followed, as well as The Course of Honour, which was finally published in 1998. Rebels and Traitors, set in the period of the English Civil War, was published in September 2009, and Falco: The Official Companion in June 2010. In March 2012 she published Master and God, set in ancient Rome and concerning the emperor Domitian. In 2012 Davis and her publishers Hodder & Stoughton and St. Martin's Press announced that she was writing a new series of books centred on Flavia Albia, Falco's British-born adopted daughter and "an established female investigator". The first title, The Ides of April was published on 11 April 2013 in the UK,^[5] and Enemies at Home is to be published in 2014.^[6]

Davis has won many literary awards, and was honorary president of the Classical Association from 1997 to 1998.

Published works

Marcus Didius Falco

1. The Silver Pigs (1989)
2. Shadows in Bronze (1990)
3. Venus in Copper (1991)
4. The Iron Hand of Mars (1992)
5. Poseidon's Gold (1993)
6. Last Act in Palmyra (1994)
7. Time to Depart (1995)
8. A Dying Light in Corduba (1996)
9. Three Hands in the Fountain (1997)
10. Two for the Lions (1998)
11. One Virgin Too Many (1999)
12. Ode to a Banker (2000)
13. A Body in the Bath House (2001)
14. The Jupiter Myth (2002)
15. The Accusers (2003)
16. Scandal Takes a Holiday (2004)
17. See Delphi and Die (2005)
18. Saturnalia (2007)
19. Alexandria (2009)
20. Nemesis (2010)

Omnibus editions

• Falco on His Metal (1999)
  • Venus in Copper
  • The Iron Hand of Mars
  • Poseidon's Gold
• Falco on the Loose (2003)
  • Last Act in Palmyra
  • Time to Depart
  • A Dying Light in Corduba

Associated publication

• Falco: The Official Companion (2010)

Flavia Albia

• The Ides of April (2013)
• Enemies at Home (2014)^[6] (To be published 24 April by Hodder & Stoughton in UK (ISBN 978-1444766585)^[7] and 10 June by Minotaur Books in USA (ISBN 978-1250023773).)^[8]

Other novels

• The Course of Honour (1998)
• Rebels and Traitors (2009)
• Master and God (2012)
• A Cruel Fate (3 February 2014, ISBN 9781444763188),^[9] (a QuickRead set in the English Civil War)^[10]

Awards and nominations

• Short listed for the Georgette Heyer Prize for two unpublished works (pre-Falco).
• Winner of the Author's Club Prize for "Best First Novel" in 1989 for The Silver Pigs.
• Winner of the Crime Writers' Association (CWA): Dagger in the Library for being an author "whose work has given most pleasure" in 1995. "The Dagger in the Library". CWA. Retrieved 17 August 2012. 
• Winner of the first Ellis Peters Historical Dagger awarded by the Crime Writers' Association in 1999 for Two for the Lions."The Ellis Peters Historical Award". Retrieved 17 August 2012. 
• Winner of the Sherlock Award for the Best Comic Detective in 2000 for Didius Falco.
• Awarded the 2010 Premio Colosseo, awarded by the city of Rome to someone who "has enhanced the image of Rome in the world"^[11]
• Winner of the 2011 Cartier Diamond Dagger from the Crime Writers' Association^[12]

References

External links

• The official website of Lindsey Davis
• Interview with Lindsey Davis
• Publisher's newsletters