One fine day, A.D. 70, Sosia Camillina quite literally runs into Marcus Didius Falco on the steps of the Forum. It seems Sosia is on the run from a couple of street toughs, and after a quick and dirty rescue, P.I. Falco wants to know why.
Falco finds out that Sosia, the niece of a highly placed senator, holds the secret to a stockpile of silver pigs, ingots intended for no good use. Hoping for future favours from Sosia’s powerful uncle, Falco embarks on an intricate case of smuggling, murder, and treason that reaches into the palace itself. And if he does not tread lightly, the treacherous puzzle of the silver pigs could buy him a one-way ticket to his own funeral pyre.

I last read ‘The Silver Pigs‘ thirty years ago. It was a revelation, a wonderful amalgam of historical fiction and murder mystery with just a touch of romance. I instantly became a fan and followed Falco all the way through to ‘Nemesis‘ the twentieth Falco book, which I finished more than a decade ago.

I’d promised myself that I would get back to these books once I’d retired and had time on my hands. What I hadn’t allowed for was that my eyesight would no longer be good enough to read all the Falco books on my shelves.

So I decided to work my way through the series using the audiobook versions.

I’ve had ‘The Silver Pigs‘ audiobook on my shelves since 2015. I kept putting off reading it. I was afraid that I’d find that what had enchanted me thirty years ago would now feel dated and slow.

Instead, I found that the book still sparkles and that the thirty-year gap was long enough for enough details to fade from my memory that the story felt fresh and carried a few surprises.

‘The Silver Pigs‘ has a solid plot that uncovers a political conspiracy that spans the Empire from the Forum in Rome to the silver mines in the Mendip hills of Britain. Even on a re-read, I was kept guessing about who had done what and how/if the bad guys would be brought to justice.

But it’s not the plot that makes this book shine, it’s the characters of Marcus Didius Falco, Private Informer and Helena Justina, a senator’s daughter.

Falco is a poor son of Rome. Thirty years old and unmarried. A republican in a time of emperors. A former Legionnaire who served in Britain during the uprising. I loved his swagger, his cynicism his almost pathological defiance of authority and his self-deprecating humour. The story is told with dry humour by an older version of Falco, looking back, mostly tolerantly, at the events that shaped his adult life.

Helena Justina is a strong-willed, intelligent woman who has recently divorced her husband on the grounds of neglect. As a senator’s daughter, she is two social classes higher than Falco. I loved that Helena Justina was more than a love interest for Falco. She is just as strong and as capable as he is. She knows her own mind and her decisions and actions drive a lot of the plot.

The most unexpected thing for me in this re-read was how hard I was hit by the description of Falco’s term of (undercover) slavery in the silver mine. This was brutal and brought Falco to the edge of despair.

I listened to the audiobook version of ‘The Silver Pigs‘ performed by Christian Rodska who captured Falco perfectly.

I’ve decided to continue re-reading Falco. I’ve started the second book, ‘Shadows In Bronze‘ which, unfortunately, has a different narrator, Gordon Griffiths, who I’m still trying to get used to. He’s good but his version of Falco sounds a little too officer class for my tastes.