Marcus Didius Falco

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Marcus Didius Falco is the fictional main character in a book series by the British author Lindsey Davis , which is published in Germany by the Droemer Knaur publishing group . In 2010, the twentieth and final novel about the Roman private investigator who was active in the 1st century AD was published in Great Britain . A follow-up series launched in 2013 revolves around Falco's adopted daughter Flavia Albia.

To person

characterization

Marcus Didius Falco was born in AD 41, the second youngest of seven children to a family of plebeians in Rome. As a young adult, he joined the Roman Legion and was stationed in Britain. By means of a ruse, he was able to be released prematurely as unfit for war and to return to Rome. There he began to work as a private investigator and initially lived in regular poverty. In 70 AD he received his first imperial commission and rose to the rank of knight through successful work and the resulting wages. With the senator's daughter Helena Justina, he finds the love of his life that his two daughters Julia Junilla and Sosia Favonia give him.

Falco, who is only called "Marcus" by his closest friends and relatives, is a self-confident man who makes no secret of the fact that he can be very messy and loud, also likes to drink over his thirst and not always to himself keeps social rules. He has a fairly modern attitude and refuses to give to the patriarch . He gives his wife Helena, whom he loves with all his heart, and the other women in his family complete freedom. Falco has a great sense of humor and an enormous sense of crime.

family and friends

Falco lives in a marriage-like community with the senator's daughter Helena Justina. Since they both live together and have two children together, they are considered a married couple, although they have so far not attended an official wedding ceremony. Due to the fact that Helena is the daughter of a senator and comes from the upper class, her relationship with Falco, who is only a plebeian and has a rather disreputable profession as a private investigator, is considered a scandal. Helena is a clever and, for her time, extremely independent woman who supports her husband in his investigations, but is often also afraid for him. Falco and Helena have two biological daughters named Julia Junilla Laeitana and Sosia Favonia. Later there is an adopted daughter named Flavia Albia, who comes from Britain, and an adopted son named Postumus, who is also Falco's younger half-brother. A biological son of Falco and Helena dies on the day of his birth.

Despite the difference in class, Falco has a good relationship with his father-in-law, Senator Decimus Camillus Verus, not least because they love and appreciate Helena and the two children above all else. Helena's mother Julia Justa thinks little of her son-in-law, but is very happy about her two sweet granddaughters. Furthermore, Helena has two younger brothers named Camillus Aelianus, called Aulus, and Camillus Justinus. While Falco is friends with Justinus and has already traveled through Germania with him, the arrogant and intolerant Aulus finds it difficult to accept his improper brother-in-law. The two brothers cause a scandal when Justinus runs away with the wealthy heiress Claudia Rufina, who, according to their two families, should marry Aulus. The brothers settle their conflict by starting to work as Falco's (unpaid) assistants and thereby competing with each other.

Falco's own family is considered argumentative and uncouth. His father, Marcus Didius Favonius, called Geminus, left the family to live with another woman when Falco was a child. It is only after Falco is released from the Legion that he meets his father for the first time. Although Falco and Geminus, who is a shrewd and successful auctioneer, work well together on a few occasions and Geminus gives his son financial support from time to time, Falco cannot forgive his father and tries to exclude him from his life as much as possible. Geminus dies in the last volume. Falco takes over his auction house and a few months later also adopts his later-born son Postumus. Falco's mother Junilla Tacita is a strict woman who does not think much of her son's profession, but who welcomes his marriage to the noble Helena very much and who idolizes her granddaughters.

Two of Falco's six siblings, his sister Victorina and his only brother Festus, died. Falco does not have a good relationship with his older sisters Allia, Galla and Junia, who are described as moody and headstrong, not least because he considers their husbands to be failures. He only gets along very well with his younger sister Maia, because as the two youngest children in the family they have always kept close together. Falco doesn't think much of Maia's husband Famia, a drunkard. When Famia is executed for blasphemy, Falco takes care of Maia and her four children as best he can. Overall, Falco has a number of nieces and nephews whom he occasionally hires in his cases to run errands and as babysitters for Julia Junilla and Sosia Favonia. Falco's family also includes his dog Nux, who accompanies him everywhere.

Falco's best friend is Lucius Petronius Longus, known as Petro, who holds a high position in the vigiles, the Roman fire brigade . The two met in the Legion and often work together, although the vigiles are actually on bad terms with private investigators. Petro has big problems in his marriage and eventually loses two of his three daughters to a serious illness. He finds comfort in Falco's younger sister Maia, with whom he begins a relationship.

Enemies

Falco's archenemy is the imperial agent Anacrites, who has already tried to have Falco killed and is also chasing after his sister Maia. The much more moral Falco once saved the seriously injured Anacrites' life and placed him with his mother. Since then, Falco's mother has regarded the chief spy Anacrites as her protégé and tries to get him and Falco to work together, which she has occasionally succeeded in doing.

Novels

  1. "The Silver Pigs" (1989; German "Silberschweine" , 1991, ISBN 3-426-63082-6 )
  2. "Shadows in Bronze" (1990; German "Bronzeschatten ", 1992, ISBN 3-426-71105-2 )
  3. "Venus in Copper" (1991; German "Kupfervenus" , 1993, ISBN 3-426-62576-8 )
  4. "The Iron Hand of Mars" (1992; Ger. "Eisenhand" , 1994, ISBN 3-426-71146-X )
  5. "Poseidon's Gold" (1993; German "Poseidon's Gold" , 1995, ISBN 3-426-63095-8 )
  6. "Last Act in Palmyra" (1994; Eng. "Last Act in Palmyra" , 1996, ISBN 3-426-63079-6 )
  7. "Time to Depart" (1995; German "Grace Period" , 1997, ISBN 3-426-63113-X )
  8. "A Dying Light in Corduba" (1996; Ger. "Zwielicht in Cordoba" , 1999, ISBN 3-426-63107-5 )
  9. "Three Hands in the Fountain" (1997; German "Three Hands in the Fountain" , 2000, ISBN 3-426-62516-4 )
  10. "Two for the Lions" (1998; Eng. "Den Löwen zum Frß" , 2002, ISBN 3-426-62284-X )
  11. "One Virgin Too Many" (1999; Ger. "Eine Jungfrau zuviel" , 2002, ISBN 3-426-62674-8 )
  12. "Ode to a Banker" (2000; German "Death of a Patron" , 2003, ISBN 3-426-62944-5 )
  13. "A Body in the Bath House" (2001; Eng. "A body in the bath house" , 2005, ISBN 3-426-66107-1 )
  14. "The Jupiter Myth" (2002; German "Mord in Londinium" , 2006, ISBN 3-426-63236-5 )
  15. "The Accusers" (2003; German "Death of a Senator" , 2006, ISBN 3-426-66155-1 )
  16. "Scandal Takes a Holiday" (2005; German "The Secret of the Librarian" , 2009, ISBN 3-426-50259-3 )
  17. "See Delphi and Die" (2006; Eng. "Delphi see and die" , 2010, ISBN 3-426-50260-7 )
  18. "Saturnalia" (2007; German "Murder in the Atrium" , 2011, ISBN 978-3426502617 )
  19. "Alexandria" (2009, Century Books, London, ISBN 978-1846052880 )
  20. "Nemesis" (2010, Century, London, ISBN 978-1846056116 )