Enemies at Home

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Enemies at Home
Enemies at Home front cover 2014 UK hardback.jpg
Front cover of UK hardback
Author Lindsey Davis
CountryUK
Series Flavia Albia (Falco: A New Generation)
Genre historical mystery crime novel
Publisher Hodder & Stoughton
Publication date
24 April 2014
Pages385
ISBN 978-1-4447-6658-5
Preceded by The Ides of April  
Followed by Deadly Election  

Enemies at Home is a 2014 historical mystery crime novel by Lindsey Davis and the second book of the Flavia Alba Mysteries [1] (Falco: The New Generation) series. Set in Ancient Rome beginning in June AD 89, [2] two months after the events of The Ides of April (2013), the novel stars Flavia Albia, the British-born adopted daughter of Marcus Didius Falco (the hero of the author's 20-volume Marcus Didius Falco Mysteries series, published from 1989 to 2010). Albia, a widow, works as a "delatrix" (a detective or private informer) in ancient Rome, like Falco. The book's cover bears an image of two silver cups, one toppled, and a broken rope. It carries the strapline: "A Flavia Albia Novel".

Historical mystery subgenre of historical fiction and mystery fiction

The historical mystery or historical whodunit is a subgenre of two literary genres, historical fiction and mystery fiction. These works are set in a time period considered historical from the author's perspective, and the central plot involves the solving of a mystery or crime. Though works combining these genres have existed since at least the early 20th century, many credit Ellis Peters's Cadfael Chronicles (1977–1994) for popularizing what would become known as the historical mystery. The increasing popularity and prevalence of this type of fiction in subsequent decades has spawned a distinct subgenre recognized by the publishing industry and libraries. Publishers Weekly noted in 2010 of the genre, "The past decade has seen an explosion in both quantity and quality. Never before have so many historical mysteries been published, by so many gifted writers, and covering such a wide range of times and places." Editor Keith Kahla concurs, "From a small group of writers with a very specialized audience, the historical mystery has become a critically acclaimed, award-winning genre with a toehold on the New York Times bestseller list."

Lindsey Davis is an English historical novelist, best known as the author of the Falco series of historical crime stories set in ancient Rome and its empire. She is a recipient of the Cartier Diamond Dagger award.

Ancient Rome History of Rome from the 8th-century BC to the 5th-century

In historiography, ancient Rome is Roman civilization from the founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD, encompassing the Roman Kingdom, Roman Republic and Roman Empire until the fall of the western empire. The civilization began as an Italic settlement in the Italian Peninsula, conventionally founded in 753 BC, that grew into the city of Rome and which subsequently gave its name to the empire over which it ruled and to the widespread civilisation the empire developed. The Roman Empire expanded to become one of the largest empires in the ancient world, though still ruled from the city, with an estimated 50 to 90 million inhabitants ) and covering 5.0 million square kilometres at its height in AD 117.

Contents

Connections to the Falco series

Falco is not mentioned in "The Cast", but his past history and his habits are discussed throughout conversations between Albia, her client the aedile Faustus, his slave Dromo and Albia's two uncles (revealed to be Falco's associates/brothers-in-law Quintus and Aulus, who now work as barristers and senators). Besides, the list includes his partner Helena Justina ("a force to be reckoned with"), her two brothers and their wives and ex-wives, and the "very old waiter" Apollonius. [3] Lucius Petronius Longus, Falco's friend is revealed to have continued his search for Florius, only to have given up and retired from work with the vigiles, while Albia's maternal grandparents (Helena's parents) are absent, implying that they are deceased.

Marcus Didius Falco is the fictional central character and narrator in a series of historical mystery crime novels by Lindsey Davis. Using the concepts of modern detective stories, the novels portray the world of the Roman Empire under Vespasian. The tone is arch and satirical, but the historical setting is largely accurate.

The fate of some of Albia's adopted relatives, the Camilii and the Didii, following the events of Nemesis , and how Falco's family was affected by the Vesuvius eruption of 79 AD and the Saepta Julia fire of 80 AD, are also recalled by Albia. Albia also reveals that her late husband Lentullus met his untimely end in "an accident". [4] [5]

<i>Nemesis</i> (Davis novel) novel by British historical writer Lindsey Davis

Nemesis is a 2009 historical mystery crime novel by Lindsey Davis and the 20th book of the Marcus Didius Falco Mysteries series. Set in Latium during AD 77, the novel stars Marcus Didius Falco, informer and imperial agent. In Ancient Greece and Rome, Nemesis was the spirit of divine retribution against those who had succumbed to hubris. In the book, Falco is warned by Anacrites, the Imperial Chief Spy, to be wary of Nemesis following Falco's inheritance of his father's sizable fortune, while the Claudii, the novel's primary antagonists who meet unpleasant endings, are revealed to have fallen afoul of their own hubris.

Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 Volcanic eruption in the Roman Empire

Mount Vesuvius, a stratovolcano in modern-day Italy, erupted in 79 AD in one of the deadliest volcanic eruptions in European history, which was witnessed and documented by Pliny the Younger, a Roman administrator and poet.

Saepta Julia

The Saepta Julia was a building in the Campus Martius of Rome, where citizens gathered to cast votes. The building was conceived by Julius Caesar and dedicated by Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa in 26 BCE. The building replaced an older structure, called the Ovile, built as a place for the comitia tributa to gather to cast votes. The Saepta Julia can be seen on the Forma Urbis Romae, a map of the city of Rome as it existed in the early 3rd century CE. Part of the original wall of the Saepta Julia can still be seen right next to the Pantheon.

Plot summary

It is June in the year 89 AD, the 9th year of the reign of Domitian, and Rome is in an uproar when a newly married couple living in an apartment on the Esquiline Valerius Aviola and Mucia Lucilia are found strangled in bed. One of their slave porters has been brutally bludgeoned and the family silver is missing. The remaining slaves of the Variola household (including the injured porter, Nicostratus) are naturally suspected of being complicit in the seemingly apparent murder of their masters and the theft of the silverware, and (with the exception of Myla, a slave and Polycarpus, the family steward) manage to flee to the sanctuary of the Temple of Ceres.

Domitian Emperor of Ancient Rome

Domitian was Roman emperor from 81 to 96. He was the younger brother of Titus and the son of Vespasian, his two predecessors on the throne, and the last member of the Flavian dynasty. During his reign, the authoritarian nature of his rule put him at sharp odds with the Senate, whose powers he drastically curtailed.

Esquiline Hill hill

The Esquiline Hill is one of the Seven Hills of Rome. Its southern-most cusp is the Oppius.

Aventine Triad joint cult of Roman deities

The Aventine Triad is a modern term for the joint cult of the Roman deities Ceres, Liber and Libera. The cult was established ca. 493 BC within a sacred district (templum) on or near the Aventine Hill, traditionally associated with the Roman plebs. Later accounts describe the temple building and rites as "Greek" in style. Some modern historians describe the Aventine Triad as a plebeian parallel and self-conscious antithesis to the Archaic Triad of Jupiter, Mars and Quirinus and the later Capitoline Triad of Jupiter, Minerva and Juno. The Aventine Triad, temple and associated ludi served as a focus of plebeian identity, sometimes in opposition to Rome's original ruling elite, the patricians.

The 2nd Vigiles Cohort is charged with investigating, but the cohort tribune Titianus gives up, and the temple's authorities are unenthusiastic about harbouring potential murderers (especially slaves who have murdered their owners) so an aedile, Tiberius Manlius Faustus, is called in to investigate. Faustus persuades Flavia Albia, the adopted daughter of Marcus Didius Falco and a delatrix in her own right, to help, with the hope that she could clear the names of the slaves. Flavia, having fled her family at Ostia out of outright boredom whilst on holiday, agrees to Faustus' request.

The Vigiles or more properly the Vigiles Urbani or Cohortes Vigilum were the firefighters and police of Ancient Rome.

Tribune elected Roman officials

Tribune was the title of various elected officials in ancient Rome. The two most important were the tribunes of the plebs and the military tribunes. For most of Roman history, a college of ten tribunes of the plebs acted as a check on the authority of the senate and the annual magistrates, holding the power of ius intercessionis to intervene on behalf of the plebeians, and veto unfavourable legislation. There were also military tribunes, who commanded portions of the Roman army, subordinate to higher magistrates, such as the consuls and praetors, promagistrates, and their legates. Various officers within the Roman army were also known as tribunes. The title was also used for several other positions and classes in the course of Roman history.

Aedile office of the Roman Republic

Aedile was an elected office of the Roman Republic. Based in Rome, the aediles were responsible for maintenance of public buildings and regulation of public festivals. They also had powers to enforce public order.

At the Esquiline, Albia talks to Fauna, a neighbour, and learns that the entire household had been in a tumult for many nights, including the night of the murder itself. The former steward Polycarpus and the Aviola slaves who managed to flee to the Temple of Ceres tell Albia that it was a botched robbery gone wrong, but Albia doubts their statements why was Nicostratus bludgeoned, but not strangled like his owners? and if the slaves were within earshot of the murdered couple's bedroom, why did they not rush out to help them? With the help of Faustus and her uncle Quintus, Albia soon discovers a tangled web of dark secrets, vengeance, lust and rivalry not just amongst the Aviola slaves, but within the family itself: Valerius Aviola's first wife, Galla, seems belligerent enough to want him dead after having lost him to her best friend, the late Mucia Lucilia. Albia discovers that some of the slaves were originally Mucia's own staff, and both Aviola and Lucilia were planning to sell some of them off as part of a redundancy exercise, beginning with Myla, with whom Valerius used to sleep with prior to marrying Lucilia. Albia also discovers sexual tensions over Amaranta, a female slave, between three male slaves: Onesimus, a steward of Lucilia's who had been sent away; Phaedrus, another porter; and Daphnus, a server. Phaedrus also had a feud with Nicostratus, who by now has died of his injuries. Equally, Galla's cousin, the executor of Valerius' will, disliked Lucilia (because Aviola was divorced from Galla) and planned to replace his slave steward Gratus with Polycarpus. Gratus tells Albia that Myla may have given birth to many children after Aviola and Polycarpus forced themselves on her.

With so many conflicts within the Aviola household, Albia first suspects that someone either wanted to steal the silver or that Aviola's ex-wife put out a contract on him and Lucilia, so she investigates the local racketeers in the vicinity, the Rabirii. Titianus, Albia and Faustus track down a nephew of the Rabirii crime lord named Roscius, who admits that he was in the Aviola apartment but while he could not find the silver, he did see the bodies of the murdered couple. He also mentions that when he was there, the house was unusually quiet and dark, in contrast to Fauna's deposition.

Contract killing is a form of murder in which one party hires another party to kill a target individual or group of people. It involves an illegal agreement between two or more parties in which one party agrees to kill the target in exchange for some form of payment, monetary or otherwise. Either party may be a person, group, or an organization. In the United States, the crime is punishable by 15 years to life in a state penitentiary. Contract killing has been associated with organized crime, government conspiracies, and vendettas. For example, in the United States, the gang Murder, Inc. committed hundreds of murders on behalf of the National Crime Syndicate during the 1930s and 1940s.

Crises soon mar the investigations Quintus is brutally assaulted, apparently by the Rabirii in the Aventine, but the 4th Vigiles Cohort apprehend one of the attackers. When the Rabirii fail to save the man, this sparks off a deadly gang war on the Esquiline, but Albia and the rest of her contacts survive. However, Polycarpus is soon found strangled in the same manner as his former owners in his own apartment above the former Aviola residence ruling out Polycarpus and the fugitive slaves as the killer or killers. Albia attends Polycarpus' wake, and discovers that Polycarpus was loyal to his late master (and former mistress Galla), which was reciprocated by the Aviola family. Galla did not bear much of a grudge against Lucilia or Aviola either, nor do her children, so neither Polycarpus, Galla nor her children would have had a motive for Aviola's death. But when Polycarpus' widow, Graecina attempts to send Myla to the slave market, Myla scalds her with hot water, screams that she killed Aviola and Lucilia, and then drowns herself in the Tiber.

Albia, Fauna and Galla rush back the apartment to tend to Graecina, where over drinks the three women tell Albia of the existence of an old well in the courtyard. Graecina reveals clues implicating Cosmus, a slave owned by her, in the murders of the Aviola couple and Polycarpus. Albia also discovers that Cosmus had a violent streak, marking him as a potential killer. Albia realises that the Aviola silverware is hidden in the well, and discovers that the old well has been freshly sealed with a wooden cover, using a plank covered with dried blood. She dredges up the Aviola silverware from the well and to celebrate her discovery with Faustus and his slave Dromo even drinks wine poured into one of the chalices from the well. For her efforts, the grateful Aviola family give a small pouch of coins to Albia.

Albia interrogates the slaves one last time and eventually discovers the truth: Cosmus was Myla's son and tried to compel Aviola to keep Myla and the other slaves on. When Aviola refused, Cosmus strangled him along with Lucilia, but was found out by Polycarpus, who had him detained alone in the kitchen, probably just before Roscius broke in. Polycarpus decided to fake a robbery to protect Cosmus and the other slaves, just as Roscius and his men attempted to rob the apartment. To make it more convincing, Nicostratus was roughed up by the other slaves, but Phaedrus went too far, eventually resulting in Nicostratus' death. Phaedrus used a plank to beat up Nicostratus, which was then used to seal the well with the silverware inside it. Despite Polycarpus' best attempts to cover up his involvement in the double murder, Cosmus may have argued over the silver with Polycarpus, and eventually strangled him too in a fit of rage. Being Cosmus' mother, Myla may well have tried to shield him through her suicide.

For their confessions, Albia decides to commend Amaranta, Daphnus and his witless brother Melander for exoneration, but she implies that the rest would not be so lucky, least of all the now fugitive Cosmus, since they all were negligent in their duty to protect their owners. Albia writes a report for Faustus, advises the long-suffering Titianus to send out a warrant for Cosmus' arrest, and then returns home to Fountain Court, but it is not the end yet. Halfway up, Albia suddenly falls violently ill, sickened from having drunk wine mixed with tainted water from the well, but is saved and nursed back to health by Faustus. The book ends with Helena, Albia's adopted mother, taking Albia back to Ostia for treatment, and Albia herself meditating on Faustus' motives for tending to her, and she admits that she longs to see him again.

Major themes

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References

  1. Davis, Lindsey (July 15, 2014). Enemies at Home (Kindle ed.). Minotaur Books. ASIN   B00H6EJQQM.
  2. Davis, Lindsey (2014). Enemies at Home. Hodder & Stoughton. p. 1. ISBN   9781444766585.
  3. Davis, Lindsey (2014). Enemies at Home. Hodder & Stoughton. p. un-numbered page. ISBN   9781444766585.
  4. Davis, Lindsey (2014). Enemies at Home. Hodder & Stoughton. p. 125 page. ISBN   9781444766585.
  5. Davis, Lindsey (2014). Enemies at Home. Hodder & Stoughton. p. 156 page. ISBN   9781444766585.