A must-have companion to the acclaimed series about the Imperial private eye

As the girl came running up the steps, I decided she was wearing far too many clothes . . .

So, in 1989, readers were introduced to Marcus Didius Falco, the Roman informer, as he stood on the steps of the Temple of Saturn, looking out across the Forum, and now, 20 years and 20 books later, Falco fans want a companion volume. Only here will readers learn the author’s private background, including her descent from a failed assassin and how atheism improved her knitting. Here too are the real glories and heartache involved in research and creation—why the baby had to be born in Barcelona, which plots evolved from intense loathing of management trainees, what part a thermal vest played in the iconic Falco’s conception. Enlightening quotations from the Falco books and eminent sources: Juvenal, through Chandler, to 1066 and All That are also included.