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The Third Nero

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The Third Nero

By: Lindsey Davis
Narrated by: Lucy Brown
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Flavia Albia's day-old marriage is in trouble - her new husband may be permanently disabled and they have no funds. So when Palace officials ask her to help expose a plotter in their midst she is obliged to accept their commission.

The plot could not be bigger. Ever since he died in AD 68, apparently by his own hand, Rome has been haunted by reports that the Emperor Nero is in fact very much alive and about to return to claim his throne.

Two Nero pretenders have emerged in the East and met grisly fates. But now, as the Emperor Domitian, whose tyrannical, paranoid reign grows ever more unpopular, fights a war in faraway Dacia, there emerges a far more sinister contender. What's more the rumour is that this false Nero is already in Rome. Plunged into the conspiracy, Flavia must infiltrate the house of the Parthians who have smuggled in this new impostor, negotiate with spies, dodge the assassins sent by the Palace traitor, and somehow cope with her stricken husband.

Can she succeed before the impostor is revealed? Or will Rome once more be plunged into civil war?

(P)2017 Hodder & Stoughton©2017 Lindsey Davis Crime Fiction Detective Fiction Historical Mystery Women Sleuths Women's Fiction Marriage War Crime Rome
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Critic reviews

Davis's prose is a lively joy, and Flavia's Rome is sinister and gloriously real.
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Albia is not the sulky teenager of old ( she did have some justification), but an intelligent resourceful and independent woman- just as well after the sad death of her first husband, the clumsy, loveable Lentulus, and the lightning strike which hit her new bridegroom on their wedding day! She finds herself working, indirectly,for the appalling Emperor Domitian (he's out of town, to everyone's delight) unravelling a complex conspiracy to present an imposter as Nero risen from the dead. Albia draws on the strengths of her extended family, those cousins we knew as children, old associates and opponents of Falco and Petronius, to investigate a plot more intricate than anything Le Carré dreamed up - plus camels, elephants, seraglio - and Falco's dodgy play having its second performance!

Mystery, history and fiction

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Lindsey Davis has woven a superb, gripping story. Lucy Brown provides a matching excellent narration.

Everything an Historical Rendition should be!

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Poor Favia.Albia husband struck by lightening on her wedding day and then the palace spys come calling. This is the start of a roller coaster story
that is a joy to listen to. Lucy Brown sounds very much like I imagined Flavia to speak.

l Lindsey Davis does it again!!!

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I like this narrator better than the other one. the story complicated by lots of carrictors and names to remember.

brilliant story

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Flavia Albia is struggling with worries about her poorly husband and takes a terrifying commission that embroils her in toxic imperial politics. Good idea and the book is great up until the over dramatic ending - but the ultimate outcomes are plausible and quite interesting. Mostly it has the ironic Flavia style that is thoroughly enjoyable. The author treads a thoughtful line between modern and Roman sensibilities and still tells a fun story. I have a few problems with this narrator who sometimes doesn’t phrase sentences very well, obscuring their meaning. Her pace and clarity are good, though.

Good story, daft denouement

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