Teaser Tuesday: The Iron Hand of Mars by Lindsey Davis

It is no great secret that I am a sucker for a series. I have way too many going on to keep up with and every now and again one falls by the wayside. Actually, it is more regular than every now and again! This is one of those series for me.

I am a little ashamed to say that I actually read the first book in this series over five years ago. It took me nearly two years to read the second book, and now, five years after reading the first book I am finally reading the third book in the series. There are actually now twenty books in the series, so at this stage I should catch up in about...oh....forty years or so!

It was hard to find a teaser to share because the voice of Falco is just so pervasive and there were just so many that I could have chosen from the early part of the book. He is like a jaded gumshoe detective but instead of living in New York in the 1930s he is in Ancient Rome. Like many of those style of detectives, Falco is down on his luck, just scraping by financially, and he often has women trouble as well! If it isn't full on trouble, it is definitely complicated!

This quote comes from page 38:

One thing was certain. I had committed domestic sacrilege. Helena Justina might overlook many insults, but my bumming off to Veii on her birthday was not one of the. The fact that I didn't know it was her birthday was irrelevant. I should have done.

"Didius Falco, Caesar ... " Before I was ready to concentrate on political matters, a major-domo who reeked of long-standing vanity and recently braised onions announced my name to the Emperor.

"That's a long face. What's up, Falco?"

"Woman trouble," I admitted.

Vespasian enjoyed a laugh. he threw back his great head and guffawed. "Want my advice?"

"Thanks, Caesar." I grinned. "At least this heartthrob didn't run off with my armpurse or elope with my best friend..."

We hit a small moment of stillness, as if the Emperor had remembered with disapproval who my latest heartthrob was.

From the subtitle (Death Lies Beyond the River Rhine) and from the back cover blurb we know that Marcus Didius Falco is about to be sent to Germany so it's going to be hard to fix his domestic issues from that kind of distance!