"In first century Rome, Flavia Albia, the daughter of Marcus Didius Falco, has taken up her father's former profession as an informer. On a typical day, it's small cases cheating spouses, employees dipping into the till but this isn't a typical day. Her beloved, the plebeian Manlius Faustus, has recently moved in and decided that they should get married in a big, showy ceremony as part of beginning a proper domestic life together. Also, his contracting...

"Four novella-length stories written to illuminate her unparalleled output of the last 30 years."--

Private investigator and royal informer Marcus Didius Falco is hot on the trail of organized crime in 72 A.D. Rome. Assisted by his girlfriend Helena Justina and his best friend, watch captain L. Petronius Longus, Falco tries to complete this imperial commission without being killed. Meanwhile he's hampered with a stray dog, an abandoned baby, a missing niece, and an irritating landlord.