Reviews and Comments

Fictional account of the battles needed to free wrongly convicted prisoners, but based on real issues.

The exile of a Roman Mob Boss should lead to at least a temporary drop in crime, but does it?

Enjoyed to introduction to a new investigator member of the Falco family. Just a filled with insights into life in Roman times

I started this series somewhere in the middle with Fatal Legacy - looking forward to seeing how it starts.

I believe in the importance of Evidence Based Medicine, and Florence was a pioneer in the area.

In some places it reads more like an adventure story, but interesting insights into a different era.

Forensics with lots of twists and turns, and in this novel, plenty of shocks!

Chapter 1 - Stars, Seconds, Cylinders and Steam (Tolerance 0.1), tells of (John WIlkinson)[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wilkinson_(industrialist)] and his precision boring machine, patented in 1774. It also mentions (John Harrison)[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Harrison] and his quest for a clock, usable at sea and sufficiently precise to measure Longitude - though this is covered in more depth in (Longitude)[https://books.paladyn.org/book/7043/s/longitude] by Dava Sobel.

Wallendars's first case introduces many recurring characters, such as his father. He is still technically a patrolman, but due to transfer to the detective branch. Although he makes some foolish decisions a murder would not have been solved without his persistence.

I will keep referring back to the Neuroscience 101 appendix, which is useful independent of the determinism discussion

Often, when reading Grisham's stories, I discover something about the American legal system which I had not known, whereas these tales, although a good read did not particularly draw me in.

The intermingled threads are full of twists and surprises. A rare featuring of Network Time Protocol, and Certificate Expiry - though technical readers will be complaining that it does not work like that - but could this be yet another Red Herring?

I have enjoyed several of the Falco series, and this tale of his adopted daughter, Flavia Albia. also has a good blend of insight into Roman life and a mystery written in a light humorous style. Due to the large number of related characters and extensive use of the tria nomnia this book would have been better as holiday reading than fitting in reading chapters interspersed with other activities. I am still inclined to read more in this series

Dead Man's Hand by E. R. Punshon

Clever measures to avoid being seen in the snow lead to the murderer's downfall in this short story.from 1950

Person or Persons Unknown by Carter Dickson

Although written and set in 1938 (in a country house), the story tells of events and murders in 1663 and 1667, the time of the Restoration, giving another viewpoint to that of The Ashes of London etc set in that period.