Germanicus: A Marcus Corvinus Mystery

Rating:
Summary: ¿I, Claudius¿ meets Raymond Chandler
Review: Marcus Corvinus, David Wishart's ancient Roman sleuth, is very like Marcus Didius Falco, Lindsay Davis's ancient Roman sleuth, Both are smart, streetwise, not overly impressed by authority, and prone to find themselves carrying out secret commissions for Very Imperial People who don't want to go through regular channels. Each has an intelligent (and beautiful) wife who helps in this. Corvinus is at work a few decades earlier than Falco, firmly in the middle of "I, Claudius" times. He is a minor nobleman of independent means, which gives him a material advantage over up-from-the-slums Falco and more of an entree into the upper reaches of society. But the main difference is in the writing. If Lindsay Davis is like Ellis Peters, Wishart is closer to Raymond Chandler. The story telling is a bit more direct and taut, and the cynicism closer to the surface and more freely expressed. Sometimes it's a bit too much, and one wishes he would rein in the anachronism a bit, amusing though it is. But it all makes for a good read.
In this book Corvinus receives instructions from the deliciously evil and devious Empress Livia to carry out an of-the-record inquiry into the events surrounding the death of Germanicus (prince, general, darling of the army and heir presumptive to the throne) which has generated a major political scandal. Readers of Robert Graves will find here a very different scenario from that offered in "I, Claudius" for the same mystery. That is part of the interest of the book, but it stands on its own merits anyway. Enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: Hey Pal, your chariot's double-parked!
Review: Phillip Marlowe in a kilt leaves some unpleasant images for the heterosexual male reader. "Hey pal, if I wanted more than one Martinus I'd have asked for them!" Chandler just doesn't translate well to the era and the senatorial class of Imperial Rome. Nevertheless, the plot is good and the pace brisk. I enjoyed the read and the change from the other Roman mystery writers, but I just couldn't find the character believable or even very likable. He's a pretentious clod and always loses his fights with the villains!

Rating:
Summary: Wishart can't write
Review: The blurb of this novel promised colloquial, breezy writing. "Aha!" I thought. "Just like Lindsey Davis and Janet Evanovich!" Unfortunately Davis, Evanovich, and just about everyone else, can write rings around David Wishart. On about page 100 I finally gave up in disgust and gave the book to a used book sale at church. Someone else, buying it for fifty cents, may like it better than I. My advice is: go back to writing school, Mr. Wishart.

Rating:
Summary: Wishart can't write
Review: The blurb of this novel promised colloquial, breezy writing. "Aha!" I thought. "Just like Lindsey Davis and Janet Evanovich!" Unfortunately Davis, Evanovich, and just about everyone else, can write rings around David Wishart. On about page 100 I finally gave up in disgust and gave the book to a used book sale at church. Someone else, buying it for fifty cents, may like it better than I. My advice is: go back to writing school, Mr. Wishart.