Set in Rome between July and August AD 74, Ode to a Banker stars Marcus Didius Falco, Informer and Imperial Agent. It is the twelfth in her Falco series, and a take on the vanity publishing industry.
Explanation of the novel's title
The title is a reference to both the poetry that leads Marcus Didius Falco to the Chrysippus scriptorum, as well as to the bank that is the family's other business.
Plot summary
When Marcus Didius Falco gives a poetry reading for family and friends, things get a little out of hand. The event is taken over by Aurelius Chrysippus, a wealthy Greek banker and patron to a group of struggling writers, who subsequently offers to publish Falco's work. A visit to the Chrysippus scriptorium implicates Falco in the murder of Chrysippus, found beaten to death with a scroll in his library. So Petronius Longus, in his role of enquiry chief of the vigiles, commissions him to investigate. The result is a trawl through the literary and financial worlds of Ancient Rome.
Characters in "Ode to a Banker"
Family and Associates
A. Camillus Aelianus - Older brother of Helena
Anacrites - Chief Spy
Geminus - Father of Falco, Auctioneer
Glaucus and Cotta - Bath House Contractors
Helena Justina - Wife of Falco, and daughter of the Senator Decimus Camillus Verus
Junia - Falco's sister
Junilla Tacita - Mother of Falco
Maia Favonia - Falco's widowed sister
Marcus Didius Falco - Informer and Imperial Agent.
Rutilius Gallicus - Ex-consul
Vigiles
Fusculus
Lucius Petronius Longus - Friend of Falco and Vigiles Officer
Passus
Sergius
From the World of the Arts
Anna - Wife of Trypho
Aurelius Chrysippus - Patron and Banker
Avienus - Historian
Constrictus - Poet
Euschemon - Scroll-seller
Pacuvius - Satirist
Turius - Utopian
Urbanus Trypho - Playwright
From Commerce
Bos
Diomedes - Son of Chrysippus and Lysa
Lucrio - Banker
Lysa - First wife of Chrysippus
Nothokelptes - Banker
Philomelus - Son of Pisarchus
Pisarchus - Shipping magnate
Vibia Second wife of Chryssipus
Major themes
Investigation into the murder of Aurelius Chrysippus
Allusions/references to actual history, geography and current science
Set in Rome in AD 74, during the reign of Emperor Vespasian.
