A fast-paced, crackling good mystery is set in "the tenth year of
the Emperor Vespasian" and aimed at middle-grade readers. Flavia
lives in Ostia, the seaport of Rome, where her father is often away
at sea. They have new neighbors: a boy named Jonathan, his sister
Miriam, and their father. All of the children are motherless.
Flavia shows herself both smart and resourceful right off, tracking
the magpie that has made off with her father's signet ring, but
needing rescue from feral dogs in the process. That's when she
makes the acquaintance of Jonathan. She uses her birthday money to
purchase a slave, Nubia, when she sees the girl in chains in the
marketplace, and the trio soon adopts Lupus, a wild child who has
had his tongue cut out. This lively group takes it upon themselves
to find out who has been beheading household dogs, and they fasten
upon a man unhinged by the death of his daughter from a rabid dog
bite. There are lots of interesting historical bits: Jonathan and
Flavia wear the bulla, a charm on a chain that indicates they are
freeborn children; Flavia's favorite reading materials are in
scrolls; Jonathan's asthma is treated by oil of marjoram.
Jonathan's Jewish family are converts to Christianity, and their
worship, as well as Flavia's of the Roman gods, are noted in
passing. The children use logic, deduction, reasoning, and
imagination to solve the crime, and the multicultural cast
stretches, but does not shatter, credulity. Sequels are promised,
and young mystery-lovers will be eager for the next. (Fiction.
8-12) (Kirkus Reviews)
The first in Caroline Lawrence's internationally bestselling Roman
Mysteries series, re-issued with a fantastic new cover look. Flavia
Gemina is a natural at solving mysteries. The daughter of a ship's
captain living in Ostia, the port of Rome, in AD79, she and her
three friends, Jonathan, a Jewish boy (and secretly a Christian);
Nubia, an African slave girl; and Lupus, a mute beggar boy, must
work together to discover who is beheading the watchdogs that guard
people's homes, and why. A talented storyteller, Caroline Lawrence
has created a delightfully readable and accessible series that
children will want to read time and time again.
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