- Ode to a Banker
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Ode to a Banker 
Author(s) Lindsey Davis Cover artist Mark Edwards Country United Kingdom Language English Series Marcus Didius Falco Genre(s) Crime Publisher Arrow Books, Mysterious Press Publication date 2000 Media type Print (Hardback & Paperback) Pages 368 pp (Paperback edition) ISBN 0099515172 OCLC Number 267166181 Preceded by One Virgin Too Many Followed by A Body in the Bath House Ode to a Banker is a crime novel by Lindsey Davis.
Contents
Plot introduction
Set in Rome between July and August AD 74, Ode to a Banker stars Marcus Didius Falco, Informer and Imperial Agent. It is the twelfth in her Falco series, and a take on the vanity publishing industry.
Explanation of the novel's title
The title is a reference to both the poetry that leads Marcus Didius Falco to the Chrysippus scriptorum, as well as to the bank that is the family's other business.
Plot summary
When Marcus Didius Falco gives a poetry reading for family and friends, things get a little out of hand. The event is taken over by Aurelius Chrysippus, a wealthy Greek banker and patron to a group of struggling writers, who subsequently offers to publish Falco's work. A visit to the Chrysippus scriptorium implicates Falco in the murder of Chrysippus, found beaten to death with a scroll in his library. So Petronius Longus, in his role of enquiry chief of the vigiles, commissions him to investigate. The result is a trawl through the literary and financial worlds of Ancient Rome.
Characters
Family and associates
- A. Camillus Aelianus - Older brother of Helena
- Anacrites - Chief Spy
- Geminus - Father of Falco, Auctioneer
- Glaucus and Cotta - Bath House Contractors
- Helena Justina - Wife of Falco, and daughter of the Senator Decimus Camillus Verus
- Junia - Falco's sister
- Junilla Tacita - Mother of Falco
- Maia Favonia - Falco's widowed sister
- Marcus Didius Falco - Informer and Imperial Agent.
- Rutilius Gallicus - Ex-consul
Vigiles
- Fusculus
- Lucius Petronius Longus - Friend of Falco and Vigiles Officer
- Passus
- Sergius
From the world of the arts
- Anna - Wife of Trypho
- Aurelius Chrysippus - Patron and Banker
- Avienus - Historian
- Constrictus - Poet
- Euschemon - Scroll-seller
- Pacuvius - Satirist
- Turius - Utopian
- Urbanus Trypho - Playwright
From commerce
- Bos
- Diomedes - Son of Chrysippus and Lysa
- Lucrio - Banker
- Lysa - First wife of Chrysippus
- Nothokelptes - Banker
- Philomelus - Son of Pisarchus
- Pisarchus - Shipping magnate
- Vibia Second wife of Chrysippus
Major themes
- Investigation into the murder of Aurelius Chrysippus
Allusions/references to actual history, geography and current science
- Set in Rome in AD 74, during the reign of Emperor Vespasian.
Release details
- 2000, UK, Century Hardback ISBN 0712680349
- 2001, UK, Arrow, Paperback ISBN 0-09-929820-1
- 2001, US, Mysterious Press, Hardback ISBN 0-89296-740-4
- US, Mysterious Press, Paperback ISBN 0-446-67906-2
Sources, references, external links, quotations
The Marcus Didius Falco series by Lindsey Davis The Silver Pigs (1989) · Shadows in Bronze (1990) · Venus in Copper (1991) · The Iron Hand of Mars (1992) · Poseidon's Gold (1993) · Last Act in Palmyra (1994) · Time to Depart (1995) · A Dying Light in Corduba (1996) · Three Hands in the Fountain (1997) · Two for the Lions (1998) · One Virgin Too Many (1999) · Ode to a Banker (2000) · A Body in the Bath House (2001) · The Jupiter Myth (2002) · The Accusers (2003) · Scandal Takes a Holiday (2004) · See Delphi and Die (2005) · Saturnalia (2007) · Alexandria (2009) · Nemesis (2010)
Categories:- 2000 novels
- Falco novels
- Historical novels
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