Scandal Takes a Holiday - Lindsey Davis

...a historial period, for example, Scandal Takes a Holiday is set in ancient day Rome. Her novels have won several awards, including New Bestseller and Historial Novel Priza and saw her become President of the organisation Classical Association in 1997. A nineteenth book in her current series was recently published at the beginning of February 2009; it is entitled "Alexandria".

Davis studied English Literature at Oxford University ...
...own the paperback version of Scandal Tales a Holiday; it is 368 pages in length which, again like Silver Tower, is a nice amount for something you just want to read as a very short-term 'project'. It took me a little longer to complete than you would probably expect, though - roughly, it took me about eight days. However, that was in between doing university work, working at my part-time job and doing all other sorts of things! I must note, though, ... more

Here is another book review using my 'revised' formatting. Hope you enjoy, comments and guestbook comments highly welcome as always! :-D

THE AUTHOR

Lindsey Davis was born in 1949 in Birmingham, England. She is famous for her writings that majorly revolve around history and murder mysteries, with some undertones of romance and 'passion crime'. The majority - if not all - of Davis' work is set in a historial period, for example, Scandal Takes a Holiday is set in ancient day Rome. Her novels have won several awards, including New Bestseller and Historial Novel Priza and saw her become President of the organisation Classical Association in 1997. A nineteenth book in her current series was recently published at the beginning of February 2009; it is entitled "Alexandria".

Davis studied English Literature at Oxford University before becoming a civil servant for 13 years.

BASIC DETAILS ABOUT THE BOOK

I only own the paperback version of Scandal Tales a Holiday; it is 368 pages in length which, again like Silver Tower, is a nice amount for something you just want to read as a very short-term 'project'. It took me a little longer to complete than you would probably expect, though - roughly, it took me about eight days. However, that was in between doing university work, working at my part-time job and doing all other sorts of things! I must note, though, that there are other versions available which are either a little shorter or a little longer in length. For example, the hardcover version published in 2005 is is a slightly shorter length of 320 pages, however, I have only read the version I own so i'm not too sure about the differences. I can only assume that the print/font is somewhat different or parts (prefaces, etc.) have been changed or removed.

The publication date of Lindsey Davis' Scandal Takes a Holiday - the paperback version, again - was 2nd June 2005. Since then, the book seems to have gained popularity and there are plenty of reviews dotted around the Internet. Also, it is readily available to buy on online stores such as Amazon, eBay, and so forth. The publisher of my paperback version is Arrow Books Ltd. I will mention the other, hardback version as I know some people prefer to own these ones rather than the paperback: the publisher for the shorter, hardback version is Century and it was published on 3rd June 2004.

As previously stated, there are various versions of this book. However, it seems that, with regard to variations, this book only stretches to hardback and paperback, and the difference in number of pages. I cannot find any sort of availability in audio CD (otherwise known as an Audiobook), cassette, or an MP3 CD. It might be the case that they are not in so much demand and thus are difficult to find, however, the popular online stores have no such item available to buy, which may be disappointing for some. **Someone please correct me in comments or guestbook if you happen to know something about this, and I'll update the review. Thanks! :) *

I am now including information with regard to the design of the book as I feel that is sometimes left out in reviews and, although it's not greatly important, it is sometimes one thing that initially attracts someone to a book whilst in a store. Seemingly, the most popular design of Scandal Takes a Holiday is the one featured on the Ciao review section: greens, jades, yellows, golds...large print and an illustration of a small boat and three people rowing. This is exactly the design version that I own. The author's name is featured first at the top and states "LINDSEY DAVIS". LINDSEY is on the top line, DAVIS on the line below. Moreover, although both words are in the same font, DAVIS is roughly twice or three times the size as her forename. The font is very much like a serif font, such as Times New Roman, and is printed in a nice vivid yellow-gold colour. It really stands out, particularly so on the jade green background. Underneath this is a thick brown and gold bar, followed by the book title of "SCANDAL TAKES A HOLIDAY". This is spaced out over three lines and, again, is in the same font as the author's name, and in the same yellow-gold colour. Below this, as stated above, is an illustration of three people rowing a boat. The illustration has a sort of old-fashioned look to it, and the way in which the people have been drawn remind me of the old paintings of cherubs, and nude portraits. The boat looks quite elaborate - yellow-gold in colour to match the font, gold and red decorative features and pieces at either end of the boat. Underneath this, are the words "THE NEW BESTSELLER". It is much smaller in print compared to the rest of the wording on the front cover but still stands out. It is printed in white.

However, there are other versions of front cover available. I know of only two at the moment but there may be more in other coutries. The second most popular design is extremely vivid and probably stands out more than the one featured here and described above. It has an illustration of old-day Rome, when most of the city was surrounded by water, etc. There are two large, classic-looking, stone buildings which are in the middle of what I can only call a river. There are several small boats dotted around but mainly features people sitting around on the parts of land, talking to friends and sitting in groups. The book is headed with "A MARCUS DIDIUS FALCO MYSTERY". It is centred in the middle of a black and white, decorative box. Below that is the title of the book in large, medium-dark red font. This really does look the part and really grabs the reader's attention. Underneath that, and placed in the white sky/light that is showing through the buildings, is the short description: "Treachery, betrayal, and murder...It's just another ordinary day in ancient Rome". At the bottom of the cover, the black and white theme is continued: there is a large black box/background with the author's name in large white print, followed by "Davis makes Rome live." - The Washington Post Book World.

Then there is the third and final (of the ones I know exist, anyway!) cover design; it is pretty simplistic but quite 'different' at the same time. The whole cover is made to look like a tile mosaic. The main background is cream and beige. About one centimetre from the top of the book is a large bright light and dark blue box with the small heading "From the author of The Jupiter Myth" followed by the author's name on the next line. In the middle of the cover, against the cream background, is an illustration of an anchor bobbing on top of a small wave. The anchor has a yellow rope wrapped around it and blood on one of the 'points'/'spikes'. Below that is an identical blue box to the one at the top of the cover. In it is the Marcus Didius information, followed by the title of the book.

As far as the price of the book is concerned, it can be bought brand new for relatively cheap. My book was a used one, borrowed from a family friend again. My local charity shop also sells them extremely cheap, as low as 5p for older books - bargain! The current price on Amazon is £16.14 for a brand new hardcover, or for my paperback, you can buy it new at £5.49, also new copies at 45p, and used copies for 38p (with free delivery). They are not as inexpensive as other books but it is only 3-4 years old.

BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO THE STORYLINE

The novel is set in the year 76 AD, in Rome, Italy and it is the beginning of Summer. Infamia is a male writer, specifically a columnist, for the major newspaper "The Daily Gazette". Although he is thought to have gone on holiday to the countryside - as most people in the city do - he has in fact gone missing. This is the central plot and is reflected in the title "Scandal Takes a Holiday": he is not just any columnist, but what is referred to as a gossip reporter, letting all the readers know of all the scandal going on!

Marcus Didius Falco is the main character and acts as the narrator. He is married to a woman called Helena Justina and they have two daughters. A private informer and investigator, he and his wife travel to Ostia Antica, also "on holiday". This is the place illustrated on the front cover of the book: it is a major archaeological site and a harbour in Rome which sports ancient and classical buildings, also on the cover. Falco finds out that Infamia is actually called Dicclep and had already told lots of people that he was going to Ostia to work as well as visit family members. However, the work that he was supposed to be carrying out, fails to reach his employers and so they contact Falco, fearing him missing. As Falco digs deeper into the mystery, he finds out something quite frightening - the family member(s) Infamia was going to visit had actually died the year before. Moreover, Infamia was actually renting a ruined room at the port. Falco searches the room and all of the belongings there, only to find pills with the name Damagoras scribed into them.

Falco is determined to get to the bottom of where Infamia is and so seeks out the man who goes by this name of Damagoras. Upon finding him, he questions his profession, how he knows Infamia, and so on. Damagoras turns out to be extremely wealthy and claims to be a pirate; he also tells Falco that Infamia was going to write a book about his days at sea as a pirate. Falco refuses to believe what he has been told, however, he comes to the knowledge that Ostia is a place full of piracy and the majority of pirates there gain their riches through kidnapping young vulnerable women, before demanding large ransoms from the victims' families.

However, Falco's involvement sees him become the target of a murderous scheme...

PLOT

Scandal Takes a Holiday is a Thriller revolving around general crime and murder. It is also related to kidnaping and such like. The whole book concentrates on whodunnits, so to speak. It is VERY suspenseful! There are several crime-based mini plots, as stated before, they are about escape and rescue from kidnappers and stalkers. Also, it involves a criminal gang. Although the storyline in "present day", it is set within the Ancient Rome era. This is illustrated by the cover design - the classic buildings, the old-fashioned drawings on people, the rivers and boats, and so forth.

With regard to the description of violence and 'chases' in this novel, there is, I would say, very little for this particular type and genre of book. In fact, there is hardly any description focusing on chases, etc. and I initially expected much more! Although it didn't spoil the story for me, it was somewhat disappointing and so I'm taking half a star off my rating (4.5 is my rating now therefore, though I know halves are not shown on the scale!!). One thing is for sure - the plot certainly did not become predictable in this respect! Being another thriller novel, there is quite a lot of detail concentrating on the main chacacter planning and preparing his evidence, figuring out events that may have occurred, discussing puzzles and motives; all in all, I would estimate that possibly half (maybe a little less than half) of the book focuses on such aspects. This is the complete opposite to the the violence and chases point; I prefer this larger amount, it is good for the flow of the story, in my opinion. I did not think there would be this much, mainly because of the historical background!..OK so maybe I'm being awkward and difficult to please now, who knows LOL?! ;)

As with most books, the emotions of people and physical descriptions of places are majorly concentrated on. Here, the development of characters and their 'biographies', feelings/emotions, in addition to relationships, are written about in great detail and give an extremely good impression of the people I'm reading about in Scandal Takes a Holiday. I felt that about approximately a little less than half of the book was spent talking about such aspects. I loved that Davis went into such detail with the characters! It was the perfect amount in my honest opinion. However, this novel included little physical description and tended to focus much much more on the characters and the 'detective'. Again, I was highly surprised at this, and was expecting so much more. I would not go as far to say that the story was ruined or at some disadvantage due to the lack of physical detail, but I like the setting to be explained in great detail - I like to feel engrossed in the story as if I'm there myself! Thus, I found, the physical description of people, places and objects along with how society operates in general, was covered by around a tenth of the book. It did not include enough to make up a fifth of the book. So, again, I'm knocking off half a star for this. My rating is now 4 out of 5.

Finally with regards to the plot, I would think that the target age group/audience of Scandal Takes a Holiday is that of adults and young adults. It is not too explicit or violent for the younger individuals to read and understand.

MAIN CHARACTER

The gender of the main character in Scandal Takes a Holiday is male and is aged between 20 and 30 years; unfortunately I cannnot make any specific guess as to his actual age, from the information given. Their race/ethnicity is white/caucasian. This is another thriller book with a male main character, it is seemingly a common basis to a storyline in crime thriller novels. Furthermore, the 'secondary' character is make, too - see further on in the next section. Davis has given this character the profession of private investigator, which I thought was a little 'odd' (for want of a better word) considering this was ancient Rome. Obviously, an investigator in that day and age would be somewhat different to one in present times. He is quite intelligent, being smarter than most of the other characters, and displays a quite friendly and humour-filled attitude. However, the humour is subtle rather than being over the top, annoying or the "clown" of the story. With regard to sensitivity and emotions, he is half-and-half: at times he is sensitive to others' feelings and events, whilst at other times he doesn't seem to care much, or at least it does not impact on him. His physique is described as being highly athletic.

Being the main character - but more so because he is a detective - this individual does not "get caught up" in all the events and goings on. They are in the situation by choice, so to speak. He uses a sufficient amount of violence during his involvement in occurrences.

MAIN OPPOSITION

The gender of the main character in Scandal Takes a Holiday is male and is aged between, roughly, 60 and 80 years; again I couldn't quite work out what the exact or approximate age was but I'd like to note that he could possibly be a little older than 80...that was the impression I got anyway! They are stated as being a pirate and, as an antagonist, is present in some of the book, though not all. I would say about a quarter to a third of this book features this character. As the enemy/opposition, he is motivated mostly by the thought - and aim - of power. I got the impression that he had high intelligence. He is extremely hard-edged, is very much a serious character displaying only occasional humour. His physique is average, too.

SETTING

The surroundings are described quite well in Scandal Takes a Holiday and, if I had to rate on a scale of 1 to 10, I would rate the story a 7 for descriptions. Personally, I cannot rate it any higher than this solely because there was very little included in the book. I would have rated it slightly lower, however, the description that IS there, is great and so deserves a 7. A good explanantion of the setting and scenery though could have been better and although many thrillers don't have much physical description, this has a lot less than most. There are not many settings and areas used in this novel. Europe is the area used; the European country of choice is Italy, the specific city being Rome. As noted earlier, it is in the Ancient Rome period. There are no other settings in this book - basically, the storyline is set in the city of Rome, in the streets and also in the characters' personal dwellings and homes. However, the countryside is mentioned as lots of people travel there in the Summer period.

STYLE

I seem to remember that Scandal Takes a Holiday is actually part of a series by Lyndsey Davis, although I'm not too familiar with her works as a whole. I have only read this book but I believe it may be part of a series known as Marcus Didius Mysteries (as stated on the front cover). I think her current book - Alexandria - is most likely part of the same series, rather than diverting from it. Davis primarily uses the 3rd person in this book and with regards to dialogue, there is much much more description than there is dialogue; this issue has been covered in the sections above, as you probably already know :)

Davis does not use any technological jargon, the chief reason being that this is a historical plot therefore there is no need to include any tech jargon. The story isn't difficult to get your head round with regard to other aspects of the novel.

There are very 'unusual' forms of death, i.e. not an everyday or typical cause. The sole cause in the book is murder. This aspect of the novel does not make the book unsuitable for younger readers, as it is not too detailed, gorey and/or upsetting. The actual number of deaths in total throughout the novel is one - just a single death. With regard to the accounts of torture and death, there is a general descriptive and detailed reference to death and punishment. There are no real or significant references made to dead bodies and corpses, and so on. If I remeber correctly, there are no sexual references made in the novel.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* THANKS FOR READING - HOPE YOU ENJOYED! *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
 

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