Article: I have been writing now...

I have been writing now for over fifteen years, though it has passed in a flash. I always wanted to write historical novels, which were what I primarily read as a girl, but I never intended to cover the Romans. My interest was the political history of England in the Seventeeth Century and I did begin my published career with romantic serials about the Civil War for 'Woman's Realm'.

The Romans came later - first the love story of the Emperor Vespasian as seen through the eyes of his mistress Antonia Caenis in

'The Course of Honour'

and then my Roman detective, Marcus Didius Falco. Falco began as something of a joke: would it be possible to place a forties-style private eye two thousand years ago? Rome at that time seemed an ideal alternative to the big metropolitan settings of so may 'gumshoe' novels - a huge, dangerous, colourful city that saw itself as the centre of the world. It was full of characters on the make - and really did have men called 'informers', who hid behind pillars listening for information they could sell, or who actually took people to court in order to receive compensation like modern 'ambulance chasers'.

So Falco was born, a wise-cracking cynic, originally struggling hard to make his living in a grim topfloor apartment above a decidedly mean street. There he waited for people to bring him jobs he didn't want for which they probably wouldn't pay him; his calling was despised and dangerous, his rewards very uncertain. More recently he has come up in the world, for the stories are not formulaic and this gives me scope to investigate wider aspects of Roman life. Now he runs a kind of detective agency in Rome, in between acting as an overseas agent for the Emperor in various Roman provinces. He has worked in modern Spain, Syria and Libya - and several times in Britain. The stories have included 'police procedurals', a serial killer hunt, a classic whodunnit with a body in the library, and thriller-style adventures. 'The Accusers' revolves around courtroom drama, while 'Scandal Takes a Holiday' has a seaside location with a missing person hunt.

AD 70 was a lucky choice in several ways. I tapped into the huge interest people have in this period and there is a lot of material in the field of archaeology, my personal starting point for much of the background and some of the plots. In the past decade or so many more fascinating things have been discovered, especially in London, which I featured recently in 'The Jupiter Myth'. It is such a wonderful time to write about that I am never short of ideas. If Rome itself fails me, there are all those different provinces, including several exciting ones where I have yet to take my characters. I myself try to visit Rome at least once a year to keep my inspiration up-to-date, and I sometimes go to other Roman places in the year as well. There are many wonderful museums featuring the period; as well as the National Museum in Naples, a favourite is at St Germain en Laye near Paris. I am an addict of archaeological sites, which do so much to put it all into perspective.

Sometimes you have to use a lot of imagination, if only foundations are left, but at the best you are transported back in time. My favourite in Britain is Fishbourne Roman Palace at Chichester, to which I was able to devote a whole book ('A Body in the Bath House'). In Italy I love Pompeii and Herculaneum, of course, and often visit in November when they are almost deserted. For me, the most astonishing site there is the enormous seaside villa, thought to have belonged to Nero's wife Poppea, at Oplontis. I am particularly fond of the remains of the port at Ostia, near Rome, where 'Scandal Takes a Holiday' has just been set.

Where next? I am working on that - literally!

Copyright © 2004 Lindsey Davis