There Will Be Bodies

Ten years after the eruption of Vesuvius, the surrounding countryside lies buried and barren. But the destroyed cities and luxury villas on the Bay of Naples are not utterly lost.

Flavia Albia and her husband Tiberius Manlius are tasked with restoring one villa and identifying any surviving remains.

What they unearth is beyond disturbing. When the volcano erupted some people were left to their fate here, unable to escape. They included the previous owner, Publius Primus – laid out carefully and covered by falling ash.

Was Primus murdered? And, if so, why? Can Flavia Albia solve the mystery?

There Will Be Bodies looks beyond the well-known tragic events to what must have happened afterwards. It is the most intriguing crime novel of Lindsey Davis’s long and celebrated career.

Author Biography

Historical novelist Lindsey Davis is best known for her novels set in Ancient Rome, including the much-loved Marcus Didius Falco series, although she has also written about the English Civil War, including A Cruel Fate, a book for the Quick Reads literacy initiative. Her examination of the paranoid reign of the roman emperor Domitian began with Master and God, a standalone novel set in that dark period, leading to her new series about Flavia Albia.

Her books are translated and five radio dramas are regularly rebroadcast on BBC Radio 4X. Her many awards include the Premio Colosseo (from the city of Rome) and the Crime Writers’ Cartier Diamond Dagger for lifetime achievement. Most recently she was awarded the Ivanhoe Prize for lifetime achievement in historical fiction, given by the Spanish City of Ubeda.

She has been the Chair of the UK Crimewriters’ Association, Honorary President of the UK Classical Association, President of the Birmingham and Midlands Institute and is a Fellow of the UK Society of Authors.

www.lindseydavis.co.uk

Lindsey Davis – The Crime Writers’ Association (thecwa.co.uk)