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‘“Marcus Didius has things on his
mind.”
In a crisis Helena made no comment about the emergency. Her eyes
met mine. I gave her the smile of a helpless man in the hands of
a very beautiful nurse.’
Chosen by readers, Rosina and George Harter
Plot Summary
Thalia has lost an expensively trained water-organist; then
Anacrites, the
devious Chief Spy, makes his most dangerous appearance, this time persuading Falco to
travel to Nabataea - preceded by a friendly message that the dwellers in Petra might like
to peg out the Roman adventurer for the crows. Discovering the body of a dead playwright
on the High Place offers a chance to dump the official mission and look for Thalia's
missing musician instead. Falco and the indomitable Helena join a seedy group of
theatrical players for a jaunt around the Decapolis cities that eventually leads to
Palmyra at the crossroads of the eastern and western trade routes. It would be a holiday -
but for the scorpions, evangelists, perpetrators of human sacrifice, drought, plague, and
constant reminders that they have a murderer in their midst. Undaunted, Falco takes up his
stylus and writes the Plautian prototype for 'Hamlet' - though a donkey, a python and the
threat of a riot conspire to ruin his first night.
This is the one where Oliver, my editor, helpfully provided the
original for the camel joke - causing two gynaecologists to write and complain that the
language had coarsened, no doubt at the behest of some unscrupulous editor …
Research Notes: Thanks to Helen for wanting to go to Syria, London Zoo Reptile House for the lowdown on
snakes, and Bill Tyson for scorpion bite facts.
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